Troll_Man

WWD: Kryoryctes cadburyi

Added 2023-07-09 06:33:37 +0000 UTC

In the episode, briefly the Leaellynasaura nests are threatened by a potentially egg-eating mammal, played by a coati. This is identified in supplementary material as the stem-monotreme Steropodon. Whether or not Steropodon actually resembled a coati is up for debate, since it is only known from a jaw fragment with three teeth, and its closest living relatives are echidnas and the platypus, although it could be argued these are derived and don't represent the ancestral appearance of monotremes.

In the American dub, it's turned into literally a coati, but in either case, I've turned the Steropodon/coati into the probable monotreme Kryoryctes, which is known from the Eumeralla Formation alongside Leaellynasaura, unlike Steropodon, which is chronologically later (and coatis too, obviously). Again, it is very important to note that these sorts of animals are known from absolute garbage remains, Steropodon is a jaw fragment with three teeth that suggests it may have been platypus-like, and Kryoryctes is known from a partial humerus which suggests it may have been a burrowing animal like an echidna (it's also been suggested Kryoryctes is the same animal as Steropodon, but since their sparse remains do not overlap, it's impossible to say for sure), so the restoration here is extremely speculative.

Whether or not monotremes had bills at this point in their evolution is unknown, so here I've portrayed it with a sort of precursor bill, like a more rubbery shrew face. There's also no external ears, a sprawling plantigrade gait, venomous spurs (for defence against predatory dinosaurs), and a robust, fossorial body (good for hibernating in a den through the winter). Should it be shown reproducing, it would be laying eggs, and should it be shown feeding, it would be a generalist rooting omnivore (this, again, is speculative; modern monotremes have a very degenerative digestive system, but it's unclear when they evolved this). At about the size of a groundhog, this is one of the largest mammals to ever exist during the Mesozoic.

Also the species is indeed named after the chocolate brand, gotta note that.