Cifelliodon

Cifelliodon
Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous 139–124 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Genus: †Cifelliodon
Huttenlocker et al., 2018[1]
Species:
†C. wahkarmoosuch
Binomial name
†Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch
Huttenlocker et al., 2018

Cifelliodon is an extinct genus of mammaliaforms from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. In the describing paper, it was considered one of the latest surviving haramiyids yet known, belonging to the family Hahnodontidae. Its discovery led to the proposal to remove hahnodontids from the larger well-known group, the multituberculates. However, later papers have considered it to be a basal allotherian outside of Haramiyida.[2]

The sole species in the genus, Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch, was found in the geological rock unit called the Yellow Cat Member, part of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Grand County, Utah. This rock unit dates to between 139-124 million years old. It was found alongside the remains of several dinosaurs - a large iguanodontian, a dromaeosaur, and an ornithopod - and parts of a crocodyliform.[1]

  1. ^ a b Huttenlocker AD, Grossnickle DM, Kirkland JI, Schultz JA, Luo Z-X. 2018. Late-surviving stem mammal links the lowermost Cretaceous of North America and Gondwana. Nature Letters
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).