Bibymalagasia

views updated

Bibymalagasia An order of mammals described in 1994 by R. E. MacPhee, based on the enigmatic genus (see ENIGMATIC TAXON) Plesiorycteropus, known from sub-Recent fossil material from Madagascar. The order is distinguished by having large, perforating, transarcual canals in the neural arches of the lumbar, posterior thoracic, and anterior sacral vertebrae; a posteromedial process on the astralagus, with a ventral groove for flexor tendons; and large ischial expansions (see ISCHIUM). Plesiorycteropus was formerly assigned to the order Tubulidentata.

More From encyclopedia.com