More from Acta Pal. Pol.

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

In the "Speculative dino species" thread HP Morgan Churchill invented a
multituberculate beaver analog. Apparently not the multis but the enigmatic
gondwanatheres did just that in the Paleocene, and, who knows, maybe even
earlier:

http://www.paleo.pan.pl/acta/acta44-3.htm
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Koenigswald, W. v., Goin, F., & Pascual, R. 1999. Hypsodonty and enamel
microstructure in the Paleocene gondwanatherian mammal Sudamerica
ameghinoi. - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 44, 3, 263-300

[...]
The evolution of hypsodonty in gondwanatherians during the Late Cretaceous
and early Paleocene cannot be correlated with a grass diet, since grasses
were not present during that time. Various lines of evidence including the
dental morphology and the inferred habitat for *Sudamerica ameghinoi*,
suggest semiaquatic and perhaps a burrowing way of life, similar to that of
living beavers.
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Apparently the most complete gondwanathere pieces are still lower jaws. :-(

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LK Metatheria everywhere (not crown-group Marsupialia, though), living
happily with Eutheria:

http://www.paleo.pan.pl/acta/acta44-1.htm
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Averianov, A. & Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. 1999. Marsupials from the Late
Cretaceous of Uzbekistan. - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 44, 1, 71-81.

A fragment of dentary with m4, showing characters of some Late Cretaceous
North American marsupials, is assigned to *Marsasia* sp. *Marsasia* Nessov,
1997 from the Coniacian of Uzbekistan [...] was attributed by Nessov to
?Marsupialia. *Marsasia* sp., found in the same horizon as the type species,
resembles it in size and structure of the masseteric fossa, but differs in
having a less steep coronoid process. We assign *Marsasia* to Marsupialia
[...] more similar to Cretaceous marsupials than eutherians. The
phylogenetic position of Marsasia may be between the Albian *Kokopellia* and
Campanian *Asiatherium*. *Marsasia* is tentatively referred to the order
Asiadelphia, which may represent an endemic Asian marsupial clade.
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>From what I've seen on TV Uzbekistan now uses Latin letters along with the
Cyrillic ones -- the country is called _Özbekiston_. (The spelling with u
has arisen because they have borrowed the Belorussian "short u" to have a
Cyrillic ö.) Mongolia, however, still has Cyrillic only (have a look at
http://www.magicnet.mn/) and therefore no fixed transcription.

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More than just the 2 heads of oviraptorid quadrates are birdlike -- could
someone comment the other features, about which I know next to nothing?
Thanks in advance!

http://www.paleo.pan.pl/acta/acta42-3.htm
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Teresa Maryanska and Halszka Osmólska - The quadrate of oviraptorid
dinosaurs. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 42, 3, 361-371.

The quadrate of oviraptorid dinosaurs is strongly pneumatized and differs
from the quadrates of other non-avian theropods by: (1) two separate facets
on the otic process for contacts with the squamosal and braincase; (2) the
articular surface for the pterygoid extended to the articular surface of the
medial mandibular condyle; (3) the mandibular process provided laterally
with a quadratojugal process bearing the quadratojugal cotyla. In the above
characters the oviraptorid quadrate resembles those in most ornithothoracine
birds, but, contrary to the streptostylic quadrate of birds, the oviraptorid
quadrate is monimostylic.
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