摘要：We describe an additional fragmentary upper molar and the first lower molar known of Monotrematum sudamericanum, the oldest Cenozoic (Paleocene) monotreme. Comparisons suggest that the monotreme evolution passed through a stage in which their molars were "pseudo-triangulate", without a true trigonid, and that the monotreme pseudo-triangulate pattern did not arise through rotation of the primary molar cusps. Monotreme lower molars lack a talonid, and consequently there is no basin with facets produced by the wearing action of a "protocone"; a cristid obliqua connecting the "talonid" to the "trigonid" is also absent. We hypothesize that acquisition of the molar pattern seen in Steropodon galmani (Early Cretaceous, Albian) followed a process similar to that already postulated for docodonts (Docodon in Laurasia, Reigitherium in the South American sector of Gondwana) and, probably, in the gondwanathere Ferugliotherium.
