Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:17:10.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Systematic position of the Paulchoffatiinae (Multituberculata, Mammalia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

David W. Krause
Affiliation:
Departments of Anatomical Sciences and Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794
Gerhard Hahn
Affiliation:
Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie der Philipps-Universität, Universitäts-Gebiet Lahnberge, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, D-3550 Marburg, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Extract

The late Jurassic Paulchoffatiinae, one of two named subfamilies of the family Paulchoffatiidae (suborder Plagiaulacoidea), are generally recognized as the most primitive known, undoubted multituberculates (e.g., Hahn, 1969; Clemens and Kielan-Jaworowska, 1979; Hahn and Hahn, 1983; Hahn et al., 1989). Despite the primitive morphology of members of this subfamily (Paulchoffatia and Pseudobolodon), three features have been posited as autapomorphic for the subfamily (or family), and thus to preclude it from the ancestry of later multituberculates: 1) the distribution of cusps on M2 (Hahn, 1969, 1971); 2) the complex structure of I3 (Hahn, 1969, 1971); and 3) the position of M2 relative to M1 (Van Valen, 1976; Clemens and Kielan-Jaworowska, 1979; Hahn, 1987). Van Valen (1976) argued that the first two features are not unequivocally autapomorphic for paulchoffatiines and that they could, and indeed should, be considered primitive for the order. Hahn (1977) responded to Van Valen's assessment but Clemens and Kielan-Jaworowska (1979, p. 138) opined that “neither argument is particularly compelling” in light of the poor early record of multituberculates and the consequent lack of knowledge concerning morphological variability.

Type
Taxonomic Notes
Copyright
Copyright © The Journal of Paleontology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Clemens, W. A., and Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. 1979. Multituberculata, p. 99149. In Lillegraven, J. A., Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., and Clemens, W. A. (eds.), Mesozoic Mammals, The First Two-Thirds of Mammalian History. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Hahn, G. 1969. Beiträge zur Fauna der Grube Guimarota Nr. 3. Die Multituberculata. Palaeontographica (A), 133:1100.Google Scholar
Hahn, G. 1971. The dentition of the Paulchoffatiidae (Multituberculata, Upper Jurassic). Memoria, Servicos Geologicos de Portugal, N.S., 17:739.Google Scholar
Hahn, G. 1977. Neue Schädel-Reste von Multituberculaten (Mamm.) aus dem Malm Portugals. Geologica et Palaeontologica, 11:161186.Google Scholar
Hahn, G. 1987. Neue beobachtungen zum schädel- und gebiss-bau der Paulchoffatiidae (Multituberculata, Ober-Jura). Palaeovertebrata, 17:155196.Google Scholar
Hahn, G., and Hahn, R. 1983. Multituberculata, p. 1409. In Westphal, F. (ed.), Fossilium Catalogus I: Animalia, pars 127. Kugler Publications, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Hahn, G., LePage, J.-C., and Wouters, G. 1987. Ein Multituberculaten-Zahn aus der Ober-Trias von Gaume (S-Belgien). Bulletin de la Societe beige de Geologie, 96:3947.Google Scholar
Hahn, G., Sigogneau-Russell, D., and Wouters, G. 1989. New data on Theroteinidae—their relations with Paulchoffatiidae and Haramiyidae. Geologica et Palaeontologica, 23:205215.Google Scholar
Jenkins, F. A. Jr., Crompton, A. W., and Downs, W. R. 1983. Mesozoic mammals from Arizona: new evidence on mammalian evolution. Science, 222:12331235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krause, D. W. 1982. Jaw movement, dental function, and diet in the Paleocene multituberculate Ptilodus. Paleobiology, 8:265281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigogneau-Russell, D. 1989. Haramiyidae (Mammalia, Allotheria) en provenance du Trias superieur de Lorraine (France). Palaeontographica (A), 206:137198.Google Scholar
Sigogneau-Russell, D., Frank, R. M., and Hemmerle, J. 1986. A new family of mammals from the lower part of the French Rhaetic, p. 99108. In Padian, K. (ed.), The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Van Valen, L. 1976. Note on the origin of multituberculates (Mammalia). Journal of Paleontology, 50:198199.Google Scholar
Wouters, G., Sigogneau-Russell, D., and LePage, J.-C. 1984. Decouverte d'une dent d'Haramiyide (Mammalia) dans des niveaux rhetiens de la Gaume (en Lorraine beige). Bulletin de la Societe beige de Geologie, 93:351355.Google Scholar