Lavocatia
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| Lavocatia Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||||
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| Lavocatia alfambrensis Canudo J.I. and Cuenca G., 1996 |
Lavocatia is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain. It was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, and lived alongside of dinosaurs. Like most Mesozoic mammals, it was a shrewish-sized animal. It's in the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and family Pinheirodontidae. The genus Lavocatia was named by Canudo J.I. Cuenca G. in 1996 based on a single species.
The species Lavocatia alfambrensis is known from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous)-age strata of Galve, Spain. This genus is apparently differentiated by the number of cusps on the tooth; 15. Also referred to in the reference is Peramura. This was a more "advanced" group of mammals, possibly ancestral to ourselves (see Peramus).
References
- Canudo & Cuenca (1996), "Two new mammalian teeth (Multituberculata and Peramura) from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) of Spain". Cretaceous Research, 17 (2), p.215-228.
- Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". Paleontology 44, p.389-429.
- Much of this information has been derived from [1] (http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/plagiau.htm) MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Basal Multituberculata, an Internet directory.