Allodontidae (from ancient Greek "ἄλλος" "ὀδούς", "different tooth") is a family of extinct
multituberculate
Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, ...
mammal that lived in what is now
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the C ...
during the Upper
Jurassic period. They were relatively early mammals and are within the informal suborder of "
Plagiaulacida
Plagiaulacida is a group of extinct multituberculate mammals. Multituberculates were among the most common mammals of the Mesozoic, "the age of the dinosaurs". Plagiaulacids are a paraphyletic grouping, containing all multituberculates that lie o ...
". The family was named by
Othniel Charles Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of Paleontology in Yale College and President of the National Academy of Sciences. He was one of the preeminent scientists in the field of paleontology. Among h ...
in 1889. Two
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencl ...
are recognized: ''
Ctenacodon'' and ''
Psalodon''.
References
* Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429.
* Most of this information has been derived fro
MESOZOIC MAMMALS: Basal Multituberculata, an Internet directory.
Multituberculates
Late Jurassic first appearances
Late Jurassic extinctions
Prehistoric mammal families
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