| Tikitherium Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Subfamily: | Crocidurinae |
| Genus: | †Tikitherium Datta, 2005 |
| Species: | †T. copei
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Tikitherium copei Datta, 2005
| |
Tikitherium is an extinct genus of mammaliaforms from India, known from a single upper tooth. Originally argued to be a primitive mammaliaform from the Late Triassic, a 2024 study argued that it actually represented the remains of a shrew from the Neogene.[1] Tikitherium refers to Tiki, the village located near the Tiki Formation where the specimen was originally thought to have come from, and therium is Greek for “Beast”. The species was named copei in honor of Edward Drinker Cope for his pioneering discoveries towards understanding mammalian molars.[2]
- ^ Averianov, Alexander O.; Voyta, Leonid L. (March 2024). "Putative Triassic stem mammal Tikitherium copei is a Neogene shrew". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 31 (1). doi:10.1007/s10914-024-09703-w. ISSN 1064-7554.
- ^ Datta, P.M. 2005. Earliest Mammal with Transversely Expanded Upper Molar from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Tiki Formation, South Rewa Gondwana Basin, India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25(1):200-207.