Dermotherium is a genus of fossil mammals closely related to the living
colugos, a small group of gliding mammals from Southeast Asia. The two
species are known from Thailand; D. major from the late Eocene, based
on a fragment of the lower jaw, and D. chimaera from the late Oligocene
from three jaw fragments and two molars. Another upper molar from the
early Oligocene of Pakistan may be from a putative D. chimaera. The
animals probably lived in forested environments, like living colugos,
but whether they could glide is unknown. The fossil teeth differ from
those of living colugo species (example pictured), and they lack their
comblike dental features involving the lower incisors, canines, and
third premolars. The fossil species differ from each other in their
tooth structure. The front part of the lower chewing teeth, the
trigonid, is broader in D. chimaera than in D. major.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermotherium>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence,
proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Independence_of_Lithuania>
1936:
The Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties, came to
power in the Spanish general election, precipitating the Spanish Civil
War five months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Spanish_general_election>
1961:
The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and
conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was
chartered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuSable_Museum_of_African_American_History>
1996:
Eleven people died in a train collision in Silver Spring,
Maryland, leading to the creation of comprehensive U.S. federal rules
for the design of passenger cars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Maryland_train_collision>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
deglutition:
(physiology) The act or process of swallowing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deglutition>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Modern politics is, at bottom, a struggle not of men but of
forces. The men become every year more and more creatures of force,
massed about central power-houses. The conflict is no longer between the
men, but between the motors that drive the men, and the men tend to
succumb to their own motive forces.
--Henry Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams>