Cyrtlatherium
Cyrtlatherium | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Synapsida |
Clade: | Therapsida |
Clade: | Cynodontia |
Clade: | Mammaliaformes |
Order: | †Docodonta |
Family: | † Docodontidae
|
Genus: | †Cyrtlatherium Freeman, 1979 |
Species: | †C. canei
|
Binomial name | |
†Cyrtlatherium canei Freeman, 1979
|
Cyrtlatherium is a dubious genus of extinct
mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic rocks of Oxfordshire
, England. As it is only known from a few isolated molar teeth, there is disagreement about whether Cyrtlatherium is a separate genus, or whether it is a synonym and the molar teeth are the milk teeth of another genus of docodont.
Cyrtlatherium was named from a few single molar teeth found in the
kuehneotheriid,[1] but were later reclassified as belonging to a docodont.[2] When reclassifying it, Sigogneau-Russell argued that it was the milk tooth of a previously named docodont called Simpsonodon
. This is now generally accepted to be the case by most mammal palaeontologists.
References
- ^ Freeman EF. 1979. A Middle Jurassic mammal bed from Oxfordshire. Palaeontology 22:135-166
- ^ Sigogneau-Russell D. 2001 Docodont nature of Cyrtlatherium, an upper Bathonian mammal from England. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 46:429-430