Kuehneodon
| Kuehneodon | ||||||||||||
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K. barcasensis | ||||||||||||
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Kuehneodon is an extinct mammal of the Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous of Europe. It was a relatively early member of the also extinct order of Multituberculata. It lived alongside such dinosaurs as Allosaurus.
(For the more technically inclined, suborder "Plagiaulacida", family Paulchoffatiidae. This genus is presently the only known memmber of a subfamily called Kuehneodontinae.)
Genus: Kuehneodon Hahn G, 1969
'Kühne’s tooth'
Remarks: This genus was named in honour of paleontologist Walther Kühne, pioneer of the Guimarota site in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He began working there as this coal mine ceased its economic life. Just as things started to get really interesting though, he moved on to Galve in Spain. A great deal of resources were invested in excavating Guimarota between 1973 and 1982, under the auspices of the Free University of Berlin. Kühne, also of that institution, seems to have felt the money could have been better used elsewhere. Luckily, the investment paid off; 1,000 mammal jaws, a number of skulls, two skeletons and 10,000 or so teeth. It's 20 years later and some of this material has yet to be prepared. The last I heard, they think they’ve got the mammal material sorted out.
This is the one genus of Paulchoffatiidae from the 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).
Genral genus information:
Kuehneodon Hahn G, 1969
Place: Guimarota, Porto das Barcas & Galve
Country: Portugal & Spain
Age: Kimmeridgian, Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous
Remarks: 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 been found in Galve, Spain.
Reference: 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.)
Page references: Hahn G & Hahn R (2000), Multituberculates from the Guimarota mine, p.97-107 in Martin T & Krebs B (eds), Guimarota - A Jurassic Ecosystem, Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil, München.
Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals. Paleontology 44, p.389-429.
(This information has been derived from [1] Multituberculata Cope, 1884. As that's my webpage, there are no issues of copyright. Trevor Dykes)