Dakotamys

Dakotamys Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Multituberculata
Suborder:	Cimolodonta
Genus:	Dakotamys
Species:	D. malcomi
Binomial name
Dakotamys malcomi Eaton J.G., 1995

Dakotamys is a genus of extinct mammal that lived during the Upper Cretaceous. It shared the world with dinosaurs. This small creature was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata within the suborder Cimolodonta and was a member of the Paracimexomys group.

The genus Dakotamys ("Dakota mouse") was named by Eaton J.G. in 1995. Dakota refers to the Dakota Formation. It's a geological term rather than a geographical one. "Paracimexomys and Dakotamys... resemble the Eobaataridae in the structure of the upper and lower molars, with cusps showing a tendency to coalesce, and with ornamentation of grooves and ribs on the molars," (Kielan-Jaworowska & Hurum, 2001, p.403).

Species: Dakotamys malcomi Eaton JG, 1995
Place: Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous)-age strata of the Dakota Formation, Utah. This species would have weighed perhaps 25 g. The type specimen is in Oklahoma. Some material from Utah has subsequently been reassigned to a different genus, Cedaromys (Eaton & Cifelli 2001.). "Dakotamys" Tedrow & Korth, 1997 was a description of fossil rodents, which were subsequently renamed Dakotallomys. These two species, D. lillegraveni and D. pelycomyoides, really are from the south of the Dakota Formation, but are obviously not multituberculates.

References

• Eaton (1995), "Cenomanian and Turonian (Early Late Cretaceous) multituberculate mammals from southwestern Utah". Journal of Vert Paleo 15(4), p.761-784.
• 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] MESOZOIC MAMMALS: "basal" Cimolodonta, Cimolomyidae, Boffidae and Kogaionidae, an Internet directory.