Megazostrodon (SciiFii)

Megazostrodon modernus, sometimes known as the Triassic shrew, is a species of basal non-mammal mammaliaform, despite its name, belonging to the order Morganucodonta that originally lived approximately around 200 million years ago as two extinct species, Megazostrodon rudnerae from the Early Jurassic of Lesotho and South Africa, and Megazostrodon chenali from the Late Triassic of France, and the genus itself was once extinct, but has since been brought back from extinction by SciiFii due to demand for more prehistoric animals as household pets. Megazostrodon modernus is a small, shrew-like animal between 10 to 12 centimetres (3.9 to 4.7 inches) long which feeds primarily on insects and small reptiles. It is nocturnal as it has a larger brain than more primitive non-mammal cynodonts and the enlarged areas of its brain are for processing sounds and smells, similarly to mammals. Although considered a close relative of mammals, it does have some non-mammalian characteristics inherited from its predecessors: the first two vertebrae (atlas and axis) are still unfused as in earlier cynodonts, and it only has three sacral vertebrae instead of the usual mammalian five. An interclavicle is also present, which is also still present in monotremes but lost in the line leading to therian mammals.
Category:Animals
Category:Species
Category:SciiFii