Allotheria

Allotheria
Temporal range: Possible Late Triassic record
Skull of Ptilodus (Multituberculata)
Skull of Adalatherium (Gondwanatheria)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Theriiformes
Subclass: Allotheria
Marsh, 1880
Subgroups

Allotheria (meaning "other beasts", from the Greek αλλός, allos–other and θήριον, therion–wild animal) is an extinct clade of mammals known from the Mesozoic and early Cenozoic. Shared characteristics of the group are the presence of lower molariform teeth equipped with longitudinal rows of cusps and enlarged incisors. Typically, the canine teeth are also lost. Allotheria includes Multituberculata, Gondwanatheria (which may be part of Multituberculata, as the sister group to Cimolodonta), and probably Haramiyida, (sometimes only including Euharamiyida) although some studies have recovered haramiyidans to be basal mammaliaforms unrelated to multituberculates. Allotherians are often placed as crown group mammals, more closely related to living marsupials and placentals (Theria) than to monotremes or eutriconodonts, though some studies place the entirety of Allotheria outside of crown Mammalia.

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