Vincelestes
Vincelestes ("Vince's thief") is an extinct genus of actively mobile mammal, that lived in what would be South America during the Early Cretaceous from 130 to 112 mya, existing for approximately . Description. "Vincelestes neuquenianus" is the only species known to date. Specimens were found in La Amarga Formation of southern Neuquén Province, Argentina. The remains of only nine individuals were recovered from this site. The back teeth of "Vincelestes" were similar to those of therians in that they were capable of cutting and grinding. This enabled them to process food more efficiently. Diet. In one study on Mesozoic  mammal mandibles, "Vincelestes" plots with herbivorous and omnivorous taxa. Phylogeny. Although not the direct ancestor of therians, "Vincelestes" is important because it gives an idea of what the ancestor of both placental and marsupial mammals might have looked like, and also gives an indication of when these mammals may have originated. Some studies inversely recovered the genus as an australosphenida, although current thought places "Vincelestes" as sister to marsupials and placental mammals.