| Necrolestes | |
|---|---|
| |
| Skull of N. patagonensis | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Clade: | Cladotheria |
| Clade: | †Meridiolestida |
| Family: | †Necrolestidae Ameghino, 1891[1] |
| Genus: | †Necrolestes Ameghino, 1891 |
| Type species | |
| Necrolestes patagonensis Ameghino, 1891
| |
| Species | |
| |
Necrolestes ("grave robber" or "thief of the dead") is an extinct genus of mammals, which lived during the Early Miocene in what is now Argentine Patagonia. It is the most recent known genus of Meridiolestida, an extinct group of mammals more closely related to therians (marsupials and placentals) than to monotremes, which were the dominant mammals in South America during the Late Cretaceous. It contains two species, N. patagonensis and N. mirabilis; the type species N. patagonensis was named by Florentino Ameghino in 1891 based on remains found by his brother, Carlos Ameghino in Patagonia. Fossils of Necrolestes have been found in the Sarmiento and Santa Cruz Formations.[2] Its morphology suggests that it was a digging, subterranean-dwelling mole-like mammal that fed on invertebrates.
- ^ Florentino Ameghino (1891). "Nuevos restos de mamíferos fósiles descubiertos por Carlos Ameghino en el Eoceno inferior de la Patagonia austral. Especies nuevas, adiciones y correciones". Revista Argentina de Historia Natural. 1: 289–328.
- ^ Necrolestes at Fossilworks.org