Cocatherium
| Cocatherium | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | †?Polydolopimorphia |
| Genus: | †Cocatherium Goin et al. 2006 |
| Species: | †C. lefipanum |
| Binomial name | |
| †Cocatherium lefipanum Goin et al. 2006 | |
Cocatherium is an extinct genus of marsupial mammals of uncertain family placement, from the earliest Paleocene (early Danian) of South America, predating the Tiupampan South American land mammal age. The genus was described based on a fossil molar that was found in the Danian part of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Lefipán Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin in north-central Patagonia, Argentina. The type species of the genus is C. lefipanum.
The mammal, probably belonging to the Polydolopimorphia, is the oldest known representative of marsupials or any therian mammal in the Southern Hemisphere.