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Deltatheroida is an extinct group of basal metatherians that lived in the Cretaceous and were closely related to marsupials. Their fossils are restricted to Central Asia and North America. This order can be defined as all metatherians closer to ''Deltatheridium'' than to Marsupialia. These mammals possessed tritubercular lower molars and these were not tribosphenic and were quite primitive. This is awkward because tribosphenic molars are commonly found in most therian mammals (there exist some exceptions such as anteaters and some whales, which have no teeth at all). When they were first identified in the 1920s, they were believed to be placentals and possible ancestors of the "creodonts" (extinct carnivorous mammals), but this was later disproven. Nonetheless, deltatheroideans do converge on hyaenodontids, oxyaenids, carnivorans, dasyuromorphs and sparassodonts in many details of their dental anatomy, suggesting a carnivorous lifestyle.〔CHRISTIAN DE MUIZON and BRIGITTE LANGE-BADRÉ, Carnivorous dental adaptations in tribosphenic mammals and phylogenetic reconstruction, Article first published online: 29 MAR 2007 DOI: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.1997.tb00481〕 ''Oxlestes'' and ''Khudulestes'' in particular are among the largest mammals of the Mesozoic, though at least the former's status as deltathoidans is questionable.〔Guillermo Rougier, New specimen of Deltatheroides cretacicus (Metatheria, Deltatheroida) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia, BULLETIN OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 36(DEC 2004):245-266 · SEPTEMBER 2009〕 ==See also== *Alphadontia *Asiadelphia *Marsupial 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Deltatheroida」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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