Durlstotherium is an extinct genus of mammal from the Early Cretaceous. It contains a single species, Durlstotherium newmani. The type specimen was found in Durlston Bay, Dorset, after which the genus was named.[1] D. newmani was named after a British pub landlord, Charlie Newman.[2] Durlstotherium and two of its contemporaries, Tribactonodon and Durlstodon, had tribosphenidan (three-cusped) molars, which are an advanced characteristic among eutherian mammals and suggest that the group emerged earlier than the Early Cretaceous.[1]
| Durlstotherium Temporal range: Middle Berriasian
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| Molars of Durlstotherium newmani (A) and Durlstodon ensomi (B) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Clade: | Eutheria |
| Genus: | †Durlstotherium Sweetman et al., 2017 |
| Type species | |
| †Durlstotherium newmani Sweetman et al., 2017
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References
edit- ^ a b Sweetman, S.C.; Smith, G.; Martill, D.M. (2017). "Highly derived eutherian mammals from the earliest Cretaceous of southern Britain". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62 (4): 657–665. doi:10.4202/app.00408.2017.
- ^ Quach, Katyanna (November 8, 2017). "Our oldest mammalian ancestor named after British pub landlord". The Register.