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Dongoconodon platycaudaa little eutriconodontan mammal that lived along with dinosaurs in what is now northeastern China paddled through the water with webbed, platypus-like hands and feet, and changed its teeth several times.
An artist’s restoration of Dongoconodon platycaudaImage credit: Shi Yukun.
Dongoconodon platycauda wandered our world throughout the Early Cretaceous date, some 120 million years earlier.
The animal was approximately the size of a water vole and weighed an approximated 115 to 190 grams.
It belonged to the Eutriconodontaan order of early mammals that lived throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous durations.
“Mammals came from through the progressive acquisition of crucial morphological and developmental developments that underlie their evolutionary success throughout varied environmental specific niches,” stated Yunnan University paleontologist Shundong Bi and coworkers.
“Among these, diphyodonty (existence of 2 generations of teeth) and a totally separated middle ear are extensively considered as 2 crucial diagnostic functions of living mammals and represent essential shifts in mammalian advancement.”
Dongoconodon platycauda is represented by an almost total articulated skeleton with an unspoiled skull and jaws.
The fossil was gathered in 2016 from the Changzigou area of the Jiufotang Formation in China’s Liaoning province.
CT scans revealed teeth in a number of phases of eruption and advancement, consisting of replacement teeth underneath other replacements.
According to the authors, the animal appears to have actually had 3 generations of teeth at some positions, throughout all 4 tooth types: incisors, dogs, premolar-like teeth and molar-like teeth.
Its close eutriconodontan relative, Gobiconodon borissiakihas actually been reported to change a few of its back teeth more than as soon as.
The scientists propose that this go back to duplicated tooth replacement is connected to a meat-eating way of life.
Holotype specimen of Dongoconodon platycaudaImage credit: Bi et aldoi: 10.1038/ s41467-026-77339-w.
Dongoconodon has 11 tooth positions in the upper jaw and 10 in the mandible,” the scientists stated.
“Teeth remain in various phases of eruption, and the replacement teeth remain in various states of development.”
“The most telling quadrant of the dentition for translating the replacement pattern in Donogoconodon is the ideal lower mandible.”
“Anterior to the emerged dog are 3 unerupted teeth within the bone, a very first incisor with its replacement followed by a 2nd incisor.”
“In the postcanine dentition, the 2nd and 3rd molariforms are completely appeared.”
“To translate this plan as a diphyodont dentition needs that these molariforms completely emerged before what would be 2 deciduous incisors, considered that the very first incisor has what would be a long-term replacement.”
“Such a pattern does not take place in any living or extinct mammals.”
Dongoconodon platycauda was likewise obviously an excellent swimmer.
Its hands and feet look like the platypus’, with flattened, lengthened bones.
Little flanges on the finger bones match the locations where webbing connects in the platypus.
Its tail vertebrae are flattened and box-like, comparable to those of the nutria, a semiaquatic South American rodent with a gently haired tail.
The researchers conclude that the tail was utilized for guiding and stability, while the forelimbs offered the majority of the propulsion.
To evaluate the swimming analysis, they compared 13 limb-bone measurements of the fossil versus 124 living types with recognized way of lives. The fossil fell within the series of the semiaquatic types.
“The brand-new fossil programs adjustments for semiaquatic life, with hands and feet like the platypus that were likewise webbed,” the authors concluded.
“Its uncommon pattern of dorsoventrally flattened tail bones looks like the living nutria, a rodent belonging to South America.”
“Reappearance of polyphyodonty and molariform replacement in the brand-new fossil and associated gobiconodontids is most likely related to their ecomorphological specific niche and meat-eating diet plan.”
The discovery of Dongoconodon platycauda is explained in a paper released today in the journal Nature Communications
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S. Bi et al2026. A polyphyodont, semiaquatic eutriconodontan mammal from the Early Cretaceous of China. Nat Commun 17, 10032; doi: 10.1038/ s41467-026-77339-w
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