Fossil of marsupial tooth unearthed in southwestern Japan

A fossilized tooth of a marsupial relative has been unearthed in southwestern Japan, boosting hopes that the trove dating back some 90 million years can unravel the evolution of mammals in Asia, a local museum said Thursday.The fossil, the first of its kind excavated in Japan, was found in March 2014 in the town of Mifune, Kumamoto Prefecture, from a geological layer formed in the late Cretaceous period, according to the Mifune Dinosaur Museum.The tooth measuring about 2 millimeters in length and 3 mm in width was uncovered from sandstone in the Tashiro district in Mifune. Based on the shap…READ FULL ARTICLE