''Ctenacodon'' ("comb needle tooth" from Ancient Greek κτενός (ktenós), "comb" + Latin acus, "needle" + Ancient Greek ὀδών (odṓn), "tooth") is a genus of extinct

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

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 Car ...

during the Upper Jurassic period. It is a member of the family Allodontidae within the order Multituberculata. ''Ctenacodon'', also known as ''Allodon'' (Marsh 1881), was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879. At least three species are currently recognized. Present in stratigraphic zone 5. Remains possibly referrable to ''Ctenacodon'' have been recovered from stratigraphic zone 2.Foster, J. (2007). "Appendix." ''Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World''. Indiana University Press. pp. 327-329.

Species

The species ''Ctenacodon laticeps'' was named by Marsh in 1881 and Simpson G.G. in 1927. It has also been known as ''Allodon laticeps'' (Marsh 1881). Remains were found in the Upper Jurassic

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

of the

Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic, Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandsto ...

in Wyoming (United States). The holotype, collected by Reed W.H. in 1880, is in the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. The species ''Ctenacodon scindens'' was named by Simpson G.G. in 1928. Remains were found in Jurassic strata of the Morrison Formation of Wyoming. This species was originally assigned to ''C. serratus''. The species ''Ctenacodon serratus'', also named by Marsh in 1879, is also known from the Morrison Formation.

References

*Simpson (1927), "Mesozoic Mammalia. VII. Taxonomy of Morrison multituberculates". ''Am. J. Sci.'' (5) xiv, p. 36-38. * Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * Marsh (1879), "Notice of new Jurassic mammals". ''Am. J. Sci.'', 3pp., xviii. Multituberculates Morrison mammals Prehistoric mammal genera Fossil taxa described in 1879 {{jurassic-mammal-stub