Paleontologists discover three new species of mammals thanks to fossils found in America

Scientists have analyzed fossils found in the Great Basin, Wyoming and discovered three new species of ancient mammals. They believe that these creatures evolved rapidly after the mass extinction of dinosaurs.

This is reported in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.

The animals were named Beornus honeyi, Miniconus jeanninae, and Conacodon hettingeri. All of them are condylarths, the ancestors of modern ungulates.

Researchers note that most mammals that survived the extinction of dinosaurs were small. But the recently discovered mammals were slightly larger. The largest of them, Beornus honeyi, was named after a character from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and was probably the size of a domestic cat.

Read also: Scientists dispel the myth of low IQ of dinosaurs

Paleontologists explain that the unique features of the teeth make these mammals part of the periphyton family, the extinct placental mammals. They had special "swollen" premolars and vertical enamel ridges that allowed them to chew both meat and tough plants.

"The disappearance of dinosaurs created new conditions for mammals, providing them with access to a variety of food sources, which contributed to the rapid development and diversity of dental anatomy. This led to the emergence of new mammalian species in a relatively short period after the mass extinction," Madeleine Atteberry, lead author of the study says.

The discovered fossils from the Great Basin add to the evidence supporting the theory that after the extinction of the dinosaurs, there were more diverse mammal species than previously thought and some of them were more evolved from an evolutionary point of view.

As a reminder, scientists have discovered that prehistoric mammals hunted dinosaurs three times bigger than them.

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