A new paper:
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Two marsupialiform teeth from the mid-Cretaceous of France are described.
Both specimens are conspecific and referred to an indeterminate stagodontid.
This is the first occurrence of this North American group in Europe.
Early marsupialiforms dispersed between Laramidia and the European archipelago.
Abstract
The global palaeobiogeography of early marsupialiform mammals is still poorly understood due to a meagre fossil record outside western North America. Here, two isolated teeth of a marsupialiform mammal from the lowermost Upper Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) of southwestern France are described and referred to Stagodontidae, a dentally specialized group whose unambiguous members are so far known exclusively from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. The occurrence of stagodontids in Europe represents additional evidence of faunal exchanges between the two landmasses during the latest Albian-early Cenomanian interval, around 100 million years ago, and shows that early (mid-Cretaceous) marsupialiforms were more widely distributed than previously thought.