Liaoconodon Explained

Liaoconodon is an extinct genus of early mammal from the early Cretaceous (early Aptian stage, approximately 120 Ma). It is a eutriconodont which lived in what is now the Jianchang of Liaoning Province, eastern China. It is known from the holotype IVPP V 16051, which consists of nearly complete skeleton and skull. It was found in the Jiufotang Formation (Jehol Biota) near Xiaotaizi, Lamadong. It was first named by Jin Meng, Yuanqing Wang and Chuankui Li in 2011 and the type species is Liaoconodon hui.^[1]

Studies on its anatomy show that it was a semi-aquatic mammal, having a long body and paddle-like limbs.^[2]

Phylogeny

Cladogram after Thomas Martin et al. 2015^[3]

Jin Meng, Yuanqing Wang and Chuankui Li . 2011 . Transitional mammalian middle ear from a new Cretaceous Jehol eutriconodont . Nature . 472 . 7342. 181–185 . 10.1038/nature09921 . 21490668. 4428972 .
Meng Chen, Gregory Philip Wilson, A multivariate approach to infer locomotor modes in Mesozoic mammals, Article in Paleobiology 41(02) · February 2015
Thomas Martin, Jesús Marugán-Lobón, Romain Vullo, Hugo Martín-Abad, Zhe-Xi Luo & Angela D. Buscalioni (2015). A Cretaceous eutriconodont and integument evolution in early mammals. Nature 526, 380–384.