Plagiaulax

Taxobox
name = "Plagiaulax"
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous


image_width = 250px
image_caption = Lower jaw and teeth of "Plagiaulax"
regnum = Animalia
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Multituberculata
familia = Plagiaulacidae
genus = "Plagiaulax"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "P. becklesii"

"Plagiaulax" is a genus of mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe. It was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, and shared the world with dinosaurs. It is of the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and family Plagiaulacidae. The genus was named by Hugh Falconer in 1857.

Fossil remains of the species "Plagiaulax becklesii" are known from Durlston Bay in Dorset, England. They include at least one partial lower jaw with teeth, though there may well be further specimens. Some material has been reported from Galve, Spain. Another species, "P. dawsoni", was provisionally named by Woodward in 1891. This came from the county of Sussex, which is further east along the English coast. It was subsequently damaged and there seems not to have been a scientific description. In 1859, von Pleninger apparently used the name "P. falconi" of unknown origin.

References

* Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals." "Paleontology" 44, p.389-429.
* Much of this information has been derived from [http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/basmult.htm] MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Plagiaulacidae, Albionbaataridae, Eobaataridae & Arginbaataridae, an Internet directory.