Orretherium tzen: The new millennial mammal discovered in Patagonia
Anew Magellanic specimen has been discovered in Patagonia. It’s a new mammal species, called Orretherium tzen. This striking looking animal scientists say inhabited Patagonia during the Upper Cretaceous period around 72 to 74 million years ago. The discovery was made thanks to remains found in the rocks of the Dorotea Formation in the Magallanes Basin, specifically in Cerro Guido and Valle las Chinas, in the southern province of Última Esperanza.
I t all started t en years ago when a group led by Dr. Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean
Antarctic Institute ( INACH) began exploring the area in search of rocks containing fossil vertebrate bones. During 2019 and 2020 the material was processed and analyzed, but not until April of this year was the Orretherium tzen species revealed.
The fossils of this species that were found surprisingly included a jaw with five premolar dental pieces, a highly uncommon occurrence as usually t he dental pieces of fossilized mammals are collected separately, not altogether.
Chilean Patagonia stands out in paleontology because the rocks in the region are the same age as when the last dinosaurs existed. “These rocks fill an evolutionary and geological history of about 20 million years, which is not normal, since one usually finds levels that are very limited in time, here we find millions of years represented,” said Sergio Soto, one of the paleontologists part of the research team.