Henkelotherium
# Henkelotherium

Henkelotherium is an extinct genus of dryolestidan mammal from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Camadas de Guimarota, in Portugal. Unlike many other Jurassic mammals, it is known from a largely complete skeleton, and is thought to have had an arboreal lifestyle.

## Description

The skull of Henkelotherium is 4 cm (1.6 in) long, and presacral body length is 11 cm (4.3 in). This suggest a weight of about 20 g (0.71 oz).

## Paleobiology

Primitive characters of Henkelotherium (e.g. asymmetric condyles of the femur) indicate that this species had a mode of locomotion similar to tree shrews and opossums. The small size of Henkelotherium and elongated tail made it suited to an arboreal lifestyle and capable of climbing trees, a notion supported by the paleoecological reconstruction of the Guimarota ecosystem indicating a densely vegetated environment.

## Taxonomy

In cladistic analyses, Henkelotherium has been considered closely related to Dryolestidae, either as a part of that group, or as closely related but placed outside that family as a non-dryolestid dryolestidan.

