''Ctenacodon'' is a genus of extinct

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

that lived in what is now

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

during the Upper

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

period. It is a member of the family

Allodontidae Allodontidae (from ancient Greek "ἄλλος" "ὀδούς", "different tooth") is a family of extinct multituberculate mammal that lived in what is now North America during the Upper Jurassic period. They were relatively early mammals and are ...

within the order

Multituberculata Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct Order (biology), order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the M ...

. ''Ctenacodon'', also known as ''Allodon'' (Marsh 1881), was named by

Othniel Charles Marsh Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of paleontology. A prolific fossil collector, Marsh was one of the preeminent paleontologists of the nineteenth century. Among his legacies are the discovery or ...

in 1879. At least three

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

of the

Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of 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, sandstone, siltston ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

(United States). The holotype, collected by Reed W.H. in 1880, is in the

Peabody Museum of Natural History The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University (also known as the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History or the Yale Peabody Museum) is one of the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. 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. Multituberculata Morrison mammals Prehistoric mammal genera Fossil taxa described in 1879 {{jurassic-mammal-stub