Brasilestes
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brasilestes is an extinct genus of mammals from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of South America. Its type species, B. stardusti, is named after David Bowie.[1][2]
| Brasilestes Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Clade: | Tribosphenida |
| Genus: | †Brasilestes Castro et al., 2018 |
| Species: | †B. stardusti |
| Binomial name | |
| †Brasilestes stardusti Castro et al., 2018 | |
Description
Brasilestes is noted to be relatively large for a Mesozoic mammal, with a length speculated at around 50 cm.[2]
Classification
Brasilestes is a tribosphenic mammal. It is tentatively assigned to Eutheria due to contemporary eutherian remains in the Adamantina Formation.[3]
Palaeoecology
Brasilestes occurs in the Adamantina Formation, alongside a plethora of dinosaur and notosuchian taxa. Contemporary mammals include eutherians, gondwanatheres and meridiolestidans.[3]
