Patagorhynchus is a genus of prehistoric monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (early Maastrichtian) Chorrillo Formation of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Patagorhynchus pascuali. The holotype, MPM-PV-23087, consists of a lower right molar attached to a fragment of the dentary. It was collected near Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina in 2022 and is housed in the Museo Padre Molina.[1]
| Patagorhynchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, early
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| Holotype specimen | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Monotremata |
| Family: | Ornithorhynchidae (?) |
| Genus: | †Patagorhynchus Chimento et al., 2023 |
| Species: | †P. pascuali
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| Binomial name | |
| †Patagorhynchus pascuali Chimento et al., 2023
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Etymology
editThe genus name comes from Patago, referring to Patagonia and Greek rhynchus, meaning nose. The species name pascuali honors Argentine paleomammalogist Rosendo Pascual.[1]
Evolution
editPatagorynchus represents the oldest known monotreme species from South America, indicating that they had already arrived in the region by the end of the Cretaceous, and were present in Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous.[2][1]
Classification
editChimento et al. (2023) recovered Patagorhynchus as a monotreme mammal. The simplified results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below:[1]
| Monotremaformes |
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References
edit- ^ a b c d Chimento, Nicolás R.; Agnolín, Federico L.; Manabe, Makoto; Tsuihiji, Takanobu; Rich, Thomas H.; Vickers-Rich, Patricia; Novas, Fernando E. (2023-02-16). "First monotreme from the Late Cretaceous of South America". Communications Biology. 6 (1): 146. doi:10.1038/s42003-023-04498-7. ISSN 2399-3642. PMC 9935847. PMID 36797304.
- ^ Thompson, Joanna (2023-03-10). "Ancient platypus-like fossil could rewrite the history of egg-laying mammals". Live Science. Retrieved 2023-03-13.