Introduction to Adalatherium hui (Gondwanatheria, Mammalia) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar

Figures & data

TABLE 1. Number of mammaliaform-bearing localities or local faunas (numerator) and named species¹ of mammaliaforms (denominator) based on body fossils (i.e., not traces) from Mesozoic horizons on each of the major landmasses of the world. Compiled from Kielan-Jaworowska et al. (2004); see discussion in text.

Epoch	Laurasia			Gondwana
	N. AM.^2	EUR.^3	ASIA^4	S. AM.	AFR.	ANT.	MAD.	IND.	AUST.
Late Cretaceous	81 156	12 6	21 55	8 14	1 0	0 0	1 1	2 2	0 0
Early Cretaceous	15 14	7 46	20 22	1 1	2 13	0 0	0 0	0 0	3 5
Late Jurassic	12 35	4 29	3 4	0 0	1 4	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 0
Middle Jurassic	0 0	8 12	7^5 2	1 1	0 0	0 0	1 1	0 0	0 0
Late Triassic – Early Jurassic	4 3	13 18	5 4	0 0	3 2	0 0	0 0	4 8	0 0

¹“Named species” here is conservatively taken to mean any species (i.e., the second name in the Linnaean binomial) that is fully named but not qualified with (usually preceded by) a question mark, aff., cf., or quotation marks. We do include species in which the generic name is qualified with a question mark, aff., cf., or quotations marks. In other words, “cf. Genus species”, “aff. Genus species”, “?Genus species” , or ““Genus” species” are counted but “Genus cf. species”, “Genus aff. species”, “Genus ?species”, or “Genus “species”” are not. Unnamed or indeterminate forms (e.g., “Gen. et sp. nov.”, “Gen. et sp. indet.”, or “Genus sp.”) are not counted.

²For these purposes, Greenland is included in North America.

³It must be noted that there is increasing evidence that Cretaceous vertebrates of southern Europe had strong Gondwanan affinities (e.g., Krause et al. [2019] and references therein).

⁴Asia, as used here, does not include the Indian subcontinent.

⁵One or more of these localities may be Late Jurassic.

FIGURE 1. Outcrop map of Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene strata in the Mahajanga Basin of northwestern Madagascar (see inset); the Berivotra Study Area is highlighted (rectangle). The holotype specimen of Adalatherium hui (UA 9030) was recovered from locality MAD99-15 in the Anembalemba Member of the Maevarano Formation, which is of latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) age.

FIGURE 2. Adalatherium hui. A, photograph of skull and postcranial skeleton of holotype specimen (UA 9030). B, C, skeletal reconstructions in left lateral and dorsal views, respectively.

FIGURE 3. Locality MAD99-15, type locality of Adalatherium hui, in the Anembalemba Member of the Maevarano Formation, Berivotra Study Area, Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar. A, close-up view looking south-southwest, with site where holotype specimen, UA 9030, was discovered indicated by white arrow. Also indicated are the two different facies, Facies 1 and Facies 2, constituting the Anembalemba Member. B, more distant view of locality (indicated by white arrow), looking north, with plaster jacket (in foreground) containing crocodyliform specimens (see text) and UA 9030.

Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., R. L. Cifelli, and Z.-X. Luo. 2004. Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure. Columbia University Press, New York, New York, 630 pp.

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Krause, D. W., J. J. W. Sertich, P. M. O’Connor, K. Curry Rogers, and R. R. Rogers. 2019. The Mesozoic biogeographic history of Gondwanan terrestrial vertebrates: insights from Madagascar’s fossil record. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 47:519–553. doi: 10.1146/annurev-earth-053018-060051

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