''Durlstodon'' is a

genus 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 n ...

of extinct mammal from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous ( chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pr ...

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

. It contains a single species, ''Durlstodon ensomi'', which is known from molars found in the

Berriasian In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/ stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years a ...

Lulworth Formation The Lulworth Formation is a geologic formation in England. It dates from the late Tithonian to the mid Berriasian. It is a subunit of the Purbeck Group. In Dorset, it consists of three members, which are in ascending order, the Mupe Member, the ...

Durlston Bay Durlston Bay (also known as Durdlestone Bay) is a small bay next to a country park of the same name, just south of the resort of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It has been a renowned site for Lower Cretaceous fossils since the ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

, after which the genus was named. The species name honours Paul Ensom, discoverer of many fossil mammals from Lulworth. ''Durlstodon'' and two of its contemporaries, '' Tribactonodon'' and ''

Durlstotherium ''Durlstotherium'' is an extinct genus of mammal from the Early Cretaceous. It contains a single species, ''Durlstotherium newmani''. The type specimen was found in Durlston Bay, Dorset, after which the genus was named. ''D. newmani'' was named ...

'', had tribosphenidan (three-cusped) molars, which are an advanced characteristic among

eutheria Eutheria (; from Greek , 'good, right' and , 'beast'; ) is the clade consisting of all therian mammals that are more closely related to placentals than to marsupials. Eutherians are distinguished from noneutherians by various phenotypic t ...

n mammals and suggest that the group emerged earlier than the Early Cretaceous. Purbeck lagoon

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q42860812 Prehistoric eutherians Fossil taxa described in 2017 Berriasian genera Early Cretaceous mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammal genera