What is Fruitafossor?
{{italictitle}} {{Speciesbox | name = ''Fruitafossor'' | fossil_range = Late [[Jurassic]], {{fossil range|Kimmeridgian|Tithonian}} | image =Fruitafossor_BW.jpg | display_parents = 2 | genus = Fruitafossor | parent_authority = Luo and Wible, 2005 | species = windscheffeli | authority = Luo and Wible, 2005 }} '''''Fruitafossor''''' was a [[termite]]-eating [[mammal]] of [[North America]] during the [[Upper Jurassic]] [[epoch (geology)|epoch]] (about 150 million years ago).<ref name=Luo2005 /> The description is based on a surprisingly complete skeleton of a [[chipmunk]]-sized animal.<ref name=Luo2005>{{Cite journal|pmid = 15802602|title = A late Jurassic digging mammal and early mammalian diversification|last1 = Luo|first1 = Z-X|journal = Science|doi = 10.1126/science.1108875|last2 = Wible|first2 = JR|year = 2005|volume = 308|issue = 5718|pages = 103–107|bibcode = 2005Sci...308..103L|s2cid = 7031381}}</ref> It was discovered in 2005, in [[Fruita, Colorado]]. The animal looked like an [[armadillo]] (or [[anteater]]) and probably ate [[termites]] in much the same manner as these animals do today ([[ants]] had not yet evolved). Other skeletal features clearly show that ''Fruitafossor'' was not related to armadillos, anteaters, or any modern group of mammal. This means that specializations associated with feeding on ants or termites have evolved many times in mammals: in ''Fruitafossor'', anteaters, [[numbat]]s, [[aardvark]]s, [[pangolin]]s, and [[echidna]]s. == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Extinct mammals]] [[Category:Fossils]] [[Category:Jurassic]] {{biology-stub}}