A 90 million year-old fossilized tooth that belonged to a critter in the genus Deltatheridium has been found in Kumamoto. These possum-like animals were ancestors of modern marsupials that frolicked with (correction: did their utmost to avoid being eaten by) dinosaurs. They are thought to have originated in Asia before finding their way to Australia and becoming kangaroos. This is getting a good deal of news coverage because it’s the first such discovery in Japan. The finding was reported by the Mifune Dinosaur Museum on the 24th. I saw it on the NHK evening news (national broadcast) that evening.
If you’d like to read a bit more about this critter here’s a BBC article you might enjoy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/226722.stm
– Kirk
