| Anachlysictis | |
|---|---|
| |
| The holotype lower jaw | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Sparassodonta |
| Family: | †Thylacosmilidae |
| Genus: | †Anachlysictis Goin, 1997 |
| Species: | †A. gracilis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Anachlysictis gracilis Goin, 1997
| |
Anachlysictis gracilis is an extinct carnivorous mammal belonging to the group Sparassodonta, which were metatherians (a group including marsupials and their close relatives) that inhabited South America during the Cenozoic. Anachlysictis is the first record of such borhyaenoids in northern South America, and also the most primitive known member of the family Thylacosmilidae, a group of predators equipped with "saber teeth". It was also the only confirmed record of a thylacosmilid that did not belong to the genus Thylacosmilus until the official publication of Patagosmilus in 2010.[1]
This species was found in the Villavieja Formation in the area of La Venta in Colombia, a famous fossil deposit in the Middle Miocene (Laventan; 13.8–11.8 million years ago),[2] based on fragments that include a front portion of the lower jaw, with an incipient molar tooth and a piece of carnassial from the front of the maxilla.[3]
- ^ Forasiepi A. & Carlini A. A new thylacosmilid (Mammalia, Metatheria, Sparassodonta) from the Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Zootaxa 2552: 55–68 (2010)
- ^ Anachlysictis gracilis at Fossilworks.org
- ^ Goin, F. J. (1997). New clues for understanding Neogene marsupial radiations. In: Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics. The Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia, R. F. Kay, R. Cifelli, R. H. Madden, and J. Flynn, eds., pp. 185-204, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.