Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 16, 2021
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relative of Dermotherium
Dermotherium is a genus of fossil mammals closely related to the living colugos, a small group of gliding mammals from Southeast Asia. The two species are known from Thailand; D. major from the late Eocene, based on a fragment of the lower jaw, and D. chimaera from the late Oligocene from three jaw fragments and two molars. Another upper molar from the early Oligocene of Pakistan may be from a putative D. chimaera. The animals probably lived in forested environments, like living colugos, but whether they could glide is unknown. The fossil teeth differ from those of living colugo species (example pictured), and they lack their comblike dental features involving the lower incisors, canines, and third premolars. The fossil species differ from each other in their tooth structure. The front part of the lower chewing teeth, the trigonid, is broader in D. chimaera than in D. major. (Full article...)