''Plesiochoffatia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

of 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. ...

. It was a relatively early member of the also extinct 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 ...

. It was a resident of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

during the "age of the

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s." It's in the suborder "

Plagiaulacida Plagiaulacida is a group of extinct Multituberculata, multituberculate mammals. Multituberculates were among the most common mammals of the Mesozoic, "the age of the dinosaurs". Plagiaulacids are a paraphyletic grouping, containing all multituber ...

" and family

Paulchoffatiidae Paulchoffatiidae is a family of extinct mammals that lived predominantly during the Upper Jurassic period, though a couple of genera are known from the Early Cretaceous. Fossils have been reported from Europe (Portugal, Spain, Germany and England ...

. The genus ''Plesiochoffatia'' ("near Choffatia") was named by Hahn G. and Hahn R. in 1999. It has also been known as ''Parachoffatia'' ("beside Choffatia") Hahn & Hahn, 1998 (preoccupied). Remains have been found in the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic)-age

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 Guimarota, Portugal. Three species were described in the same study under the name of ''Parachoffatia''; (''P. peparethos'', ''P. staphylos'' and ''P. thoas''). As something else had already been given that name, the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

was renamed a year later.

References

* Hahn & Hahn (1999), Nomenklatorische Notiz: Namens-Änderung bei Multituberculata (Mammalia). Geologica et Palaeontologica, 33, p. 156. ''(Nomenclatural Note: A name change within Multituberculata.)'' * Hahn & Hahn (1998), Neue Beobachtungen an Plagiaulacoidea (Multituberculata) des Ober Juras. -3. Der Bau der Molaren bei den Paulchoffatiidae. Berliner geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen E 28, p39-84. ''(New observations on the skull and jaw constructions in Paulchoffatiidae (

, Upper Jurassic.)'' * Hahn G & Hahn R (2000), Multituberculates from the Guimarota mine, p. 97-107 in Martin T & Krebs B (eds), Guimarota - A Jurassic Ecosystem, Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil, München. * Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * With thanks to David Marjanovic for some information. * Much of this information has been derived fro

Multituberculata (Cope 1884). Multituberculata Late Jurassic mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammal genera {{Jurassic-mammal-stub