| Chronoperates | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Symmetrodonta (?) |
| Family: | †Chronoperatidae Fox, Youzwyshyn & Krause, 1992 |
| Genus: | †Chronoperates Fox, Youzwyshyn & Krause, 1992 |
| Type species | |
| †Chronoperates paradoxus Fox, Youzwyshyn & Krause, 1992 | |
Chronoperates (meaning "time wanderer" inGreek) is an extinctgenus ofmammal whose remains have been found in a latePaleocene deposit inAlberta,Canada. It is represented by thetype speciesChronoperates paradoxus and known only from a partial left lower jaw.[1] It was first identified in 1992 as a non-mammaliancynodont, implying aghost lineage of over 100 million years since the previously youngest known record of non-mammalian cynodonts, which at that time was in theJurassic period (some non-mammalian cynodonts are now known to have persisted until theEarly Cretaceous). Subsequent authors have challenged this interpretation, particularly as the teeth do not resemble any known non-mammalian cynodonts.Chronoperates is now generally considered to be more likely to be a late-survivingsymmetrodont mammal. This would still infer a ghost lineage for symmetrodonts, but a more plausible one, as symmetrodonts persisted into the Late Cretaceous.
http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/05/time-wandering-cynodonts-and-docodonts.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20081219051716/http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/410Cynodontia/410.400.html
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