Kuehneodon
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| Kuehneodon Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||
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K. barcasensis |
Kuehneodon is a genus of extinct mammal of the Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous of Europe. It was a relatively early member of the also extinct order of Multituberculata. Members of this genus lived alongside such dinosaurs as Allosaurus. It belongs to the suborder "Plagiaulacida", family Paulchoffatiidae. In addition, this genus is presently the only known memmber of a subfamily called Kuehneodontinae. It was named by Hahn G. in 1969, the name meaning "Kühne’s tooth" in honor of paleontologist Walther Kühne, pioneer of the Guimarota site of Portugal where remains were found in the late [1950]]s and early 1960s.
Kuehneodon is the one genus of the taxon Paulchoffatiidae from the Guimarota site whereby the lower and upper jaws have been found united. These "exhibit the lowest number of derived characters (apomorphies), and are thus closest to the main evolutionary lineage of the multituberculates" (Hahn & Hahn 2000, p.106).
The genus is based mainly upon remains of jaw, a number of species are recorded from Guimarota: Kuehneodon dietrichi Hahn G, 1969; K. dryas Hahn G, 1977; K. guimarotensis Hahn G, 1969; K. simpsoni Hahn, 1969 and K. uniradiculatus Hahn, 1978. A further Upper Jurassic, Portuguese locality, Porto das Barcas, has yielded K. barcasensis Hahn G & Hahn R, 2001. Lower Cretaceous fossils have also been found in Galve, Spain.
References
- Hahn (1969), Beiträge zur Fauna der Grube Guimarota Nr. 3. Die Multituberculata. Paleontographica, A, 133, p.1-100. (Contributions on the fauna of the Guimarota mine no. 3. The Multituberculates.)
- Hahn G. and Hahn R. (2000), Multituberculates from the Guimarota mine, p.97-107 in Martin T. and Krebs B. (eds), Guimarota - A Jurassic Ecosystem, Published Dr Friedrich Pfeil, Münich.
- Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals. Paleontology 44, p.389-429.
- Much of this information has been derived from [1] (http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/multis.htm) Multituberculata Cope, 1884.