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Cokotherium compared to Vulpavus protectus

Wednesday, July 29, 2026 21:43

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A closer look at
tiny Early Cretaceous Cokotherium (Fig 1) from China brings out a previously overlooked tiny postfrontal (Fig 2) and an apparent jamming or slipping of the frontal below the nasal. This resulted in two small otherwise unidentified bone splinters not found in related taxa.

Figure 1. Tiny Early Cretaceous Cokotherium and larger Middle Eocene Vulpavus compared to size and to scale. These two are more alike than others, and yours truly, have noticed before.

Comparisons to a larger later taxon,
Middle Eocene Vulpavus profectus (Fig 1) from North America, link basal marsupials, like Eomaia and Cokotherium (Figs 1, 2), all provided with true single-rooted canine, as in more derived marsupials like Vulpavus, Didelphis, and Monodelphis, all leading to Placentalia 1 taxa.

Placentalia 2 and 3 taxa lose the original canine, sometimes replacing it with a premolar.

Figure 2. Here the tiny overlooked postfrontal is identified using DGS colors on a GIF file. The loose bone at top left is identified here as a bone splinter of the frontal after the taphonomic slippage of the frontal below the nasal. Such bones are not found in related taxa.

Here a problem arising in
the large reptile tree (LRT, 2340 taxa) provided the impetus for this closer look and comparison. Wang et al 2022 did not mention Vulpavus in their text, nor did they identify the postfrontal.

The present study builds on Wang et al. This is how science advances. Corrections should always be welcome, no matter their origin.

Wang et al 2022 reported,
“Cokotherium fills a crucial gap between the earliest eutherians from the Yixian Formation and later Cretaceous Eutherians.”

This is close to being confirmed in the LRT. The large number of premolars in Cokotherium is not duplicated in any eutherian = placental. Having only three molars is not always a eutherian trait in the LRT.

This appears to be a novel hypothesis
of observation and interrelationships. If not, please provide a citation so I can promote it here.

At the time of this posting
the LRT has not been updated to reflect the above text and hypothesis. Give it a day or two.

References
Matthew WD 1909. VI. The Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger Basin, Middle Eocene. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. 9(6):576pp.
Wang H-B, Hoffmann S, Wang D-C, Wang Y-Q. 2022. A new mammal from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Biota and implications for eutherian evolution. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 377: 20210042. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0042

wiki/Eomaia
wiki/Cokotherium
wiki/Vulpavus

Not a eutherian, Cokotherium enters the LRT with Eomaia, a basal marsupial

Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/cokotherium-compared-to-vulpavus-protectus/

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