Paurodontidae

Paurodontidae
Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous Kimmeridgian–Berriasian
Lower jaw of Paurodon valens from the Late Jurassic of North America
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Dryolestida
Family: Paurodontidae
Marsh, 1887
Genera

Paurodontidae is a family of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous mammals in the order Dryolestida. Remains of paurodontids have been found in the United States, Britain, Portugal, and Tanzania. The group likely represents a paraphyletic group of basal non dryolestid dryolestidans.[1] Paurodon has been suggested to have been a specilast feeder on earthworms due to the morphology of its teeth closely resembling that of the golden mole genus Amblysomus.[2]

  1. ^ Lasseron, Maxime; Martin, Thomas; Allain, Ronan; Haddoumi, Hamid; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Zouhri, Samir; Gheerbrant, Emmanuel (2022-06-02). "An African Radiation of 'Dryolestoidea' (Donodontidae, Cladotheria) and its Significance for Mammalian Evolution". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 29 (4): 733–761. doi:10.1007/s10914-022-09613-9. ISSN 1064-7554.
  2. ^ A.O. Averianov and T. Martin (2015). "Ontogeny and taxonomy of Paurodon valens (Mammalia, Cladotheria) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of USA" (PDF). Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 319 (3): 326–340.