| Avashishta | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | Cynodontia |
| Clade: | Mammaliaformes |
| Order: | †Haramiyida |
| Genus: | †Avashishta Anantharaman et al, 2006 |
| Species: | †A. bacharamensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Avashishta bacharamensis Anantharaman et al, 2006 | |
Avashishta bacharamensis ('remains fromBacharam') is an extinct genus of a possibly late survivingharamiyid from theMaastrichtianLameta formation ofIndia. It is known from a solitary molariform (possibly a right upper molariform) tooth. It might represent the last known non-mammaliansynapsid.[1]
The holotype specimen, GSI/SR/PAL-B215 has suffered breakage at the mesial end of the crown,along with missing enamel from both the distal end and the lateral sides of the crown. The roots of the tooth are not preserved either. Among haramiyidans,Avashishta is morphologically most similar toAllostaffia. It also appears to represent another paleobiogeographic link among southern continents and supports the hypothesis that the IndianLate Cretaceous mammalian fauna included lineages of bothLaurasian andGondwanan origin.[1] It should also be noted that the coordinates (17 °20' N, 79°50'E) provided by Anantharaman et al. (2006) and Wilson et al. (2007) for the site "do not match the ground realities with discrepancies ranging from 5 to over a hundred kilometers."[2]
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