Ambondro mahabo is a mammal from the middle Jurassic (about 167 million years ago) of Madagascar. The only species of the genus Ambondro, it is known from a fragmentary lower jaw with three teeth (pictured), interpreted as the last premolar and the first two molars. The premolar consists of a central cusp with one or two smaller cusps and a cingulum (shelf) on the inner, or lingual, side of the tooth. The molars have a similar cingulum, three cusps at the front, and a talonid with a main cusp, a smaller cusp, and a crest at the back. Features of the talonid suggest that Ambondro had tribosphenic molars, the basic arrangement of molar features also present in marsupial and placental mammals. It is the oldest known mammal with putatively tribosphenic teeth; at the time of its discovery it antedated the second oldest example by about 25 million years.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambondro_mahabo

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1493:

Ottoman wars in Europe: At the Battle of Krbava Field, a large Croatian army intercepted an Ottoman force returning to the Sanjak of Bosnia, but was defeated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krbava_Field

1892:

At the Lick Observatory, California, Edward Emerson Barnard discovered Amalthea, the third moon of Jupiter and the last natural satellite discovered by direct visual observation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalthea_%28moon%29

1969:

Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 collided in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee flown by a student pilot near Fairland, Indiana, destroying both planes and killing all 83 occupants of both aircraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Airlines_Flight_853

2001:

Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated in Afghanistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Shah_Massoud

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

desideratum: Something that is wished for, or considered desirable. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/desideratum

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

In the mental disturbance and effort of writing, what sustains you is the certainty that on every page there is something left unsaid.   --Cesare Pavese https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cesare_Pavese