Plagiaulax

Extinct family of mammals

Plagiaulax
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous
Known part of the mandible
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Multituberculata
Family: Plagiaulacidae
Genus: Plagiaulax
Falconer 1857
Species
  • P. becklesii

Plagiaulax is a genus of mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe. It was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, and shared the world with dinosaurs. It is of the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and family Plagiaulacidae. The genus was named by Hugh Falconer in 1857, and was the first described multituberculate species.

Skull and jaws of Plagiaulax, skull is a hypothetical reconstruction based on Bolodon and Ctenacodon

Fossil remains of the species Plagiaulax becklesii are known from the Lulworth Formation of Durlston Bay in Dorset, England. They include at least one partial lower jaw with teeth, though there may well be further specimens. Some material has been reported from Galve, Spain.

Another possible species, P. dawsoni, was provisionally named by Woodward in 1891. This came from the county of Sussex, which is further east along the English coast. It was subsequently damaged and there seems not to have been a scientific description. Its discoverer, Charles Dawson has been implicated in the Piltdown hoax and Pevensey tiles hoax.[1]

References

  1. ^ D.P.S. Peacock, 1973, "Forged Brick-Stamps from Pevensey."
  • Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals." Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.
  • v
  • t
  • e
    • see Synapsida
Cynodontia
    • see Cynodontia
Mammalia
    • see Mammalia
Allotheria
    • see below↓
Gondwanatheria?
Ferugliotheriidae?
Sudamericidae
Allodontoidea
Allodontidae
Paulchoffatioidea
Pinheirodontidae
Paulchoffatiidae
Plagiaulacoidea
Plagiaulacidae
Eobaataridae
Albionbaataridae
Cimolodonta
    • see below↓
Sunnyodon notleyi
Paracimexomys group
Cimolomyidae
Kogaionidae
Eucosmodontidae
Microcosmodontidae
Ptilodontoidea
Cimolodontidae
Neoplagiaulacidae
Ptilodontidae
Taeniolabidoidea
Lambdopsalidae
Taeniolabididae
Djadochtatherioidea
Sloanbaataridae
Djadochtatheriidae
Taeniolabis taoensis
Taxon identifiers
Plagiaulax


Stub icon

This article about a Cretaceous mammal is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e