Lavanify

Lavanify is an extinct mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous of Madagascar. It was a member of the extinct taxon of Gondwanatheria, and lived during 'the age of the dinosaurs'.
The position of gondwanatherians within Mammalia is not yet clear.

Genus: Lavanify Krause DW, Prasad GVR, von Koenigswald W, Sahni A & Grine FE, 1997
'long tooth'

Species: Lavanify miolaka Krause DW et al, 1997
Place:
Country: Madagascar
Age: Maastrichtian, Upper Cretaceous
Remarks: This genus is based a tooth, which was found whilst quarrying for a dinosaur skull, (Majungatholus[?]). A second specimen was also referred. As yet, (April 2003), it's the only named, non South American member of Gondwanatheria, although further fossils are known from India and Antarctica.
"The teeth of Lavanify differ from those of the only previously known sudamericid genera Gondwanatherium and Sudamerica in possessing prominent and continuous interrow sheets of interprismatic matrix in dental enamel and at least one cheek-tooth position that has a single, V-shaped dentine island and lacks enamel on one side of the crown. Lavanify further differs from Gondwanatherium in having cheek-teeth with vertical furrows that extend to the base of the crown and onto the root", (Krause et al, 1997, p.504).
Reference: Krause et al (1997), Cosmopolitanism among gondwanan Late Cretaceous mammals. Nature 390, p.504-507.

(This information has been derived from [1] (http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/gondwanatheria.htm) MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Gondwanatheria, an internet directory. As that's my webpage, there are no issues of copyright. Trevor Dykes)