Sunnyodon

Sunnyodon is a genus of tiny, extinct mammal, probably of the Lower Cretaceous. Found in what is now southern England and Denmark, it was a relatively early member of the extinct order of Multituberculata. It is part of the suborder Plagiaulacida and family Paulchoffatiidae.

Sunnyodon
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous
Restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: †Multituberculata
Family: †Paulchoffatiidae
Subfamily: †Paulchoffatiinae
Genus: †Sunnyodon
Species:
†S. notleyi
Binomial name
†Sunnyodon notleyi
Kielan-Jaworowska & Ensom, 1992

The genus Sunnyodon (meaning "Sunny tooth", after Sunnydown Farm) was named by Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and Ensom P.C. in 1992 based on a single specimen.

Fossil remains of the species Sunnyodon notleyi Lower Cretaceous-age strata of the Lulworth Formation in Durlston Bay, Dorset, England and the Rabekke Formation in Denmark. This is a tooth-based species.

A tooth from the Danish island of Bornholm was assigned to Sunnyodon in 2004. It is the first fossil of a Mesozoic mammal found in Scandinavia.[1] A tooth has also been assigned to Sunnyodon from the Berriasian aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in France.[2]

References
  1. Lindgren, J.; Rees, J.; Siverson, M.; Cuny, G. (2004). "The first Mesozoic mammal from Scandinavia". GFF. 126 (4): 325. doi:10.1080/11035890401264325.
  2. Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.. Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal turnover at the J/K boundary. Geodiversitas, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris, In press. ffhal-03264773f

Sources
  • Kielan-Jaworowska & Ensom (1992), "Multituberculate Mammals from the Upper Jurassic Purbeck Limestone Formation of southern England", Paleontology, 35, p. 95-126.
  • Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. & Hurum, J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals", Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.


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