''Priacodon'' is an extinct genus of
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
eutriconodont
Eutriconodonta is an order of early mammals. Eutriconodonts existed in Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America during the Jurassic and the Cretaceous periods. The order was named by Kermack ''et al.'' in 1973 as a replacement name for the p ...
mammal from the
Alcobaça Formation
The Alcobaça Formation, previously known as the Guimarota Formation and also known as the Consolação Unit, is a geological formation in Portugal. It dates back to the Kimmeridgian stage of the Late Jurassic. It is an important source of inform ...
of Portugal and the
Morrison Formation of the midwestern United States.
It is present in stratigraphic zones 4–6 of the latter.
[Foster, J. (2007). "Appendix." ''Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World''. Indiana University Press. pp. 327–329.] The genus contains four known species: ''Priacodon ferox'', ''Priacodon fruitaensis'', ''Priacodon lulli'' and ''Priacodon robustus''.
Jaw and teeth
A study on the jaw and teeth of ''Priacodon'' suggests that eutriconodonts, while specialised towards carnivory, had a more passive jaw roll than modern
theria
Theria (; Greek: , wild beast) is a subclass of mammals amongst the Theriiformes. Theria includes the eutherians (including the placental mammals) and the metatherians (including the marsupials) but excludes the egg-laying monotremes.
...
n carnivores. It also demonstrates that embrasure occlusion was present in all eutriconodonts, as opposed to one-to-one patterns as previously assumed for the family
Triconodontidae
Triconodontidae is an extinct family of small, carnivorous mammals belonging to the order Eutriconodonta, endemic to what would become Asia, Europe, North America and probably also Africa and South America during the Jurassic through Cretaceous p ...
.
See also
*
Paleobiota of the Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has a wide assortment of taxa represented in its fossil record, including dinosaur fossils in North America. It is ...
References
Bibliography
* Foster, J. (2007). Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. 389pp.
Eutriconodonts
Tithonian life
Jurassic mammals of Europe
Jurassic Portugal
Fossils of Portugal
Jurassic mammals of North America
Morrison mammals
Fossil taxa described in 1887
Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh
Prehistoric mammal genera
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