Barbatodon

Barbatodon
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Multituberculata
Family: Kogaionidae
Genus: Barbatodon
Species
  • B. oardaensis
  • B. transylvanicum
  • B. ungureanui

Barbatodon is a mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous period. It lived in Transylvania at the same time as some of the last dinosaurs and was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata. It is within the suborder of Cimolodonta, and the family Kogaionidae. The genus Barbatodon was named by Rãdulescu R. and Samson P. in 1986.[1]

The primary species, Barbatodon transylvanicum, was also named by Rãdulescu and Samson. It was found in strata dating to the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Sinpetru Beds of the Hațeg Formation in Romania.

"Based on comparisons with the m1s from Vãlioara, the holotype of Barbatodon is regarded as a kogaionid m1,"[2] Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum (2001) had it placed tentatively in the informal Paracimexomys group.

A new species, B. oardaensis, has been announced in 2014.[3] The species has been discovered in Oarda de Jos, Haţeg Basin, Transylvania. It is characterized by M1 cusp formula 3:4:2 and is much smaller than the two other known species.

Most of Europe was covered by shallow seas during the Upper Cretaceous, which makes remains of terrestrial animals extremely rare. This location is one of the exceptions and the diversity of material is impressive.

References

Notes

  1. http://paleobackup.nceas.ucsb.edu:8090/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&taxon_no=69158
  2. Csiki Z & Grigorescu D, 2001, Fossil mammals from the Maastrichtian of the Hateg Basin, Romania, 6th European Workshop on Vertebrate Palaeontology, Florence and Montevarchi (Italy), September 19–22, 2001, p.26.
  3. Codrea V.A., Solomon A.A., Venczel M., Smith T., 2014. A new kogaionid multituberculate mammal from the Maastrichtian of the Transylvanian Basin, Romania, Comptes Rendus Palevol, ISSN 1631-0683, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2014.01.003
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