#palaeoverse

Tagged by: ectodweeb

Name: Jasper Nickname: Jaspook, Rocky Birthday: November 2 Star sign: Scorpio (vile, vile Scorpio) Gender: Male Height: 5’6″ (or about 1.68 meters) Sexual orientation: Asexual Fav colour: Brown. No particular shade, but I like a lot of it in nature. Hours of sleep: On a really good weekend I can get up to 10, usually 6-8, when there’s lots of homework, about 4 or 5 Lucky number: It’s not a lucky number per se but 42 Last thing I googled: welcome to night vale Happy place: None really but I like to spend a lot of time in my room (which my family considers antisocial behavior... >_>)

(source. Technically from Cox 1998 but I digress)

Hey there, dear readers! Jasper here, and this week, I bring you...an opossum?! “I thought this was “PREHISTORIC creature of the week!” you yell. However, not only are opossums pretty ancient themselves, this critter is actually a fossil species. Let’s go and explore Alphadon!

Pronunciation: AL-fa-don MAR-shy

Means: Marsh’s First Tooth

Location: North America, from Alberta, Canada south to New Mexico, USA. Specific formations include Lance, Hell Creek, and Ojo Alamo.

Time: 66 million years ago, Maastrichtian stage, Late Cretaceous

Size: Estimated to be 30 centimeters, or about 12 inches.

Other pertinent info:

Alphadon is an interesting creature, though not much is known about it. It has been compared to the modern opossum in a number of ways by palaeontologists, which fits because both are small North American marsupials. All that is known of the creature are teeth. However, just a single tooth can be enough for a palaeontologist specializing in mammals, because every species and genus has a unique dentition. Returning to Alphadon, nine species are known from fossils. This just goes to show how individual mammal teeth really are. Alphadon’s teeth indicate an omnivorous diet, with items ranging from fruit to insects on the menu. 

(Source)

The animal was first discovered by world-famous palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson in the year 1929. It would have coexisted with many dinosaurs across its range, including Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and Alamosaurus, among many others. Its main predators probably would have been small carnivorous dinosaurs, such as Acheroraptor and various troodonts. It’s likely that because of all these large animals and potential predators, Alphadon hung out in trees or burrows at daytime, coming out at nighttime to hunt for prey.

Sources:

Prehistoric-Wildlife

Wikipedia