Ferugliotherium was a mammal of the Late Cretaceous, around 70 million
years ago. The genus was first described in 1986 but misidentified as a
member of Multituberculata, an extinct group of rodent-like mammals, on
the basis of a single tooth, a low-crowned molar. It is thought to have
had a small body mass, about 70 g (2.5 oz), and may have eaten insects
and plant material. Its remains have been found in two geological
formations of present-day southern Argentina, as part of a mammal fauna
that included the sudamericid Gondwanatherium and a variety of
dryolestoids. The upper and lower incisors were long and rodent-like,
with enamel on only one side of the crown. A fragment of the lower jaw
shows that the tooth socket of the lower incisor was very long. Although
Ferugliotherium had much lower-crowned teeth than the sudamericids, they
shared the same backward jaw movement during chewing and essentially
similar patterns in their incisors and on the chewing surface of their
molar-like teeth, with small enamel prisms.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferugliotherium>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
44 BC:
Dictator Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic was stabbed to
death by Marcus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar>
1875:
Archbishop of New York John McCloskey was named the first
cardinal in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCloskey>
1917:
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate in the
February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution>
1943:
World War II: German forces recaptured Kharkov after four days
of house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long
Third Battle of Kharkov.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Kharkov>
1990:
Iraqi authorities hanged freelance Iranian reporter Farzad
Bazoft for spying for Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farzad_Bazoft>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
shock and awe:
(military, also figuratively) A doctrine based on the use of spectacular
displays of force.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shock_and_awe>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life would be tragic if it weren't funny. … My expectations were
reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.
--Stephen Hawking
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking>