Bolodon

Bolodon Temporal range: Berriasian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Diagram of B. crassidens
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Multituberculata
Family:	†Plagiaulacidae
Genus:	†Bolodon Owen, 1871
Species
B. crassidens Owen, 1871 (type) B. osborni Simpson, 1928 B. minor (Falconer, 1857) "B." elongatus Simpson, 1928 B. hydei Cifelli, Davis, and Sames, 2014 B. falconeri (Owen, 1871)

Bolodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and North America. It was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata and belongs to the suborder Plagiaulacida and family Plagiaulacidae.

Type species

The type species, Bolodon crassidens, is known from fossils of the Lower Cretaceous of England from the Lulworth Formation in Durlston Bay, Dorset.[1]

The species Bolodon elongatus is possibly not referable to this genus: "?new genus to be erected for Bolodon elongatus," (Kielan-Jaworowska & Hurum, 2001, p. 414).

Differs from “Bolodon” in having P1–P3 with prominent posterior cingulum and P1 of subequal size with P2 rather than distinctly smaller.

— Kielan-Jaworowska, Cifelli, & Luo (2004)., "Mammals from the age of dinosaurs : origins, evolution, and structure" p. 315

Fossils of the species Bolodon minor (type species of the Plioprion) have been found in the Lower Cretaceous of Durlston Bay, Dorset. Plioprion (Cope, 1884) is probably synonymous with Bolodon.

The species Bolodon osborni was named by Simpson G.G. in 1928. Fossils have been found in the Berriasian (Lower Cretaceous) of Durlston Bay, Dorset. Cifelli et al. (2014) erected B. hydei for remains from the Berriasian-Valanginian age Chilson Member of the Lakota Formation of South Dakota.[2]

References

1. R. Owen. 1871. Fossil Mammalia of the Mesozoic formations. Palaeontographical Society Monographs 24(110):1-115
2. Cifelli, R.L., Davis, B.M., and Sames, B. 2014. Earliest Cretaceous mammals from the western United States. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59 (1): 31–52.

• Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals. Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.
• This information has been derived from [1] MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Plagiaulacidae, Albionbaataridae, Eobaataridae & Arginbaataridae, an Internet directory.
• Simpson (1928), A catalogue of the Mesozoic Mammalia in the Geological Department of the British Museum. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, 215pp.