Fossil of a beast that co-existed with dinosaurs found in Chile

A recently-found creature has been baptized with the name Orretherium Tzen. This word means 'Beast of Five Teeth' in an amalgam of Greek and a local language. Orretherium is a genus of mesungulatid mammal that lived in South America (Chile) during the late Cretaceous period in what is now the Dorotea Formation. Mesungulatids are categorized as large-sized herbivores (or omnivores), which are among the several Mesozoic mammals that do not conform to the insectivore stereotype. They are among the dominant mammals in the late Cretaceous South American assemblages, and among the most derived species present.

Before the unearthing of this creature, the teeth of the Magallanodon baikashkenke, a rodent-like creature, were found in the same area last year. Prior to these two discoveries, the only mammals that had been found in the southernmost tip of the Americas were known to be alive between 38 and 46 million years ago.