Pinheirodontidae is a poorly known family of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

mammals which belong to the informal suborder "

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 ...

" within the order

Multituberculata 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, ...

. Remains are known from the Late

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 Mya. The J ...

to Early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, (predominantly

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

), but are so far restricted to teeth. The family Pinheirodontidae was named by Hahn G. and Hahn R. in 1999, after the locality of

Porto Dinheiro Porto Dinheiro (or Praia de Porto Dinheiro) is a locality in the civil parish (''freguesia'') of Ribamar, municipality of Lourinhã, in Portugal. It is known as a rich fossil locality, from where were found many Late Jurassic dinosaurs and mammals ...

, in central west Portugal.

References

* Hahn & Hahn (1999), "Pinheirodontidae n. fam. (Multituberculata) (Mammalia) aus der tiefen Unter-Kreide Portugals". Palaeontographica Abt. A Vol. 253, pp. 77–222.
''(Pinheirodontidae n. fam. (Multituberculata) ( Mammalia) from the deepest Lower Cretaceous of Portugal)''. * Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * Much of this information has been derived fro

MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Basal Multituberculata, an Internet directory. Multituberculates Early Cretaceous mammals Cretaceous Europe Late Jurassic first appearances Early Cretaceous extinctions Prehistoric mammal families Fossil taxa described in 1999 {{cretaceous-mammal-stub