''Proalbionbaatar'' is a small

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

from the Upper

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

of Guimarota,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It's the most derived member of the order

Multituberculata Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, a ...

known from that locality, and shared the world with the much larger

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. It lies within the suborder "

Plagiaulacida Plagiaulacida is a group of extinct multituberculate mammals. Multituberculates were among the most common mammals of the Mesozoic, "the age of the dinosaurs". Plagiaulacids are a paraphyletic grouping, containing all multituberculates that lie o ...

" and family

Albionbaataridae Albionbaataridae is a family of small, extinct mammals within the order Multituberculata. Fossil remains are known from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. These herbivores lived their obscure lives during the Mesozoic, al ...

. The genus ''Proalbionbaatar'' was named by Hahn G. and Hahn R. in 1998, based on a single species. The name refers to it being both earlier and more basal than ''

Albionbaatar ''Albionbaatar'' is an extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous Lulworth Formation of England. It was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata and shared the world with the much larger dinosaurs. It is in the suborder "Plagiaulacida", ...

'', a broadly similar form known from the Lower

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, England. The species ''Proalbionbaatar plagiocyrtus'' was named by Hahn G. and Hahn R. in 1998.

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains are known from the

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...

(Upper Jurassic)-age

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

of Guimarota, Portugal. Remains are presently restricted to two isolated upper molars, which are smaller than the corresponding teeth of paulchoffatiids (

Paulchoffatiidae Paulchoffatiidae is a family of extinct mammals that lived predominantly during the Upper Jurassic period, though a couple of Genus, genera are known from the Early Cretaceous. Fossils have been reported from Europe (Portugal, Spain, Germany and ...

is the best represented multi group from Guimarota). These teeth also have more cusps, which are arranged in two rows. (Hahn & Hahn 2000, p. 106).

References

* Hahn & Hahn (1998), Neue Beobachtungen an Plagiaulacoidea (Multituberculata) des Ober-Juras 4. Ein Vertreter der Albionbaartaridae im Lusitanien Portugals. Berliner geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen E 28, p. 85-89. ''(New observations of Plagiaulacoidea (

) from the Upper Jurassic. 4. A representative of Albiobaataridae in the Lusitanien of Portugals.)'' * Hahn G & Hahn R (2000), Multituberculates from the Guimarota mine, p. 97-107 in Martin T & Krebs B (eds), Guimarota - A Jurassic Ecosystem, Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil, München. * Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * With much thanks to David Marjanovic for some information. * Much of this information has been derived fro

MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Plagiaulacidae, Albionbaataridae, Eobaataridae & Arginbaataridae, an Internet directory. Late Jurassic mammals Extinct mammals of Europe Multituberculates Prehistoric mammal genera {{jurassic-mammal-stub