Cyrtlatherium

Cyrtlatherium is a dubious genus of extinct docodontan mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic rocks of Oxfordshire, England. As it is only known from a few isolated molar teeth, there is disagreement about whether Cyrtlatherium is a separate genus, or whether it is a synonym and the molar teeth are the milk teeth of another genus of docodont.

Cyrtlatherium
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic, 174.1–163.5 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Therapsida
Clade: Cynodontia
Order: †Docodonta
Family: †Docodontidae
Genus: †Cyrtlatherium
Freeman, 1979
Species:
†C. canei
Binomial name
†Cyrtlatherium canei
Freeman, 1979

Cyrtlatherium was named from a few single molar teeth found in the Kirtlington mammal beds in England, which were originally thought to belong to a kuehneotheriid,[1] but were later reclassified as belonging to a docodont.[2] When reclassifying it, Sigogneau-Russell argued that it was the milk tooth of a previously named docodont called Simpsonodon. This is now generally accepted to be the case by most mammal palaeontologists.

References
  1. Freeman EF. 1979. A Middle Jurassic mammal bed from Oxfordshire. Palaeontology 22:135-166
  2. Sigogneau-Russell D. 2001 Docodont nature of Cyrtlatherium, an upper Bathonian mammal from England. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 46:429-430


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