Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. TNM 02067
(Tanzanian National Museums specimen 02067) is a fragmentary fossil
(lower jaw) from the Cretaceous (between 146 and 66 million years ago)
of Tanzania. The short, deep bone is about 19.5 mm (0.77 in) long, but
the back part is broken off. It contains a large, forward-inclined
incisor with a root that extends deep into the jaw, separated by a
diastema (gap) from five cheekteeth. Very little remains of the teeth,
but enough to determine that they are hypsodont (high-crowned). The
third cheektooth is the largest and the roots of the teeth are curved.
First described in 2003, TNM 02067 has been tentatively identified as a
sudamericid-an extinct family of high-crowned mammals otherwise known
from South America, Madagascar, India, and Antarctica. If truly a
gondwanathere, it would be the only African member of the group and may
be the oldest. The describers could not exclude other possibilities,
such as that the jaw represents some mammalian group known only from
younger, Cenozoic times (less than 66 million years ago).