Allotheria (meaning "other beasts", from the
Greekαλλός, allos–other and θήριον, therion–wild animal) is an extinct clade of mammals known from the
Mesozoic and early
Cenozoic. Shared characteristics of the group are the presence of lower
molariformteeth equipped with longitudinal rows of cusps[1] and enlarged incisors.[2] Typically, the canine teeth are also lost.[2] Allotheria includes
Multituberculata,
Gondwanatheria (which may be part of
Multituberculata, as the sister group to
Cimolodonta),[3][4][5][6] and probably
Haramiyida,[7] (sometimes only including
Euharamiyida[2]) although some studies have recovered haramiyidans to be basal
mammaliaforms unrelated to multituberculates.[8] Allotherians are often placed as
crown group mammals, more closely related to living
marsupials and
placentals (
Theria) than to
monotremes or
eutriconodonts,[2] though some studies place the entirety of Allotheria outside of crown Mammalia.[9]
^Krause, David W.; Hoffmann, Simone; Wible, John R.; Kirk, E. Christopher; Schultz, Julia A.; von Koenigswald, Wighart; Groenke, Joseph R.; Rossie, James B. (2014-11-05). "First cranial remains of a gondwanatherian mammal reveal remarkable mosaicism". Nature. 515 (7528). O'Connor, Patrick M., Seiffert, Erik R., Dumont, Elizabeth R., Holloway, Waymon L.,
Rogers, Raymond R., Rahantarisoa, Lydia J., Kemp, Addison D., Andriamialison, Haingoson. Nature Publishing Group, a division of
Macmillan Publishers Limited: 512–517.
Bibcode:
2014Natur.515..512K.
doi:
10.1038/nature13922.
ISSN1476-4687.
PMID25383528.
S2CID4395258.
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo, Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 249.