Topic
Barbatodon
About: Barbatodon is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5 publications have been published within this topic receiving 69 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: The discovery of a partial skull associated with the lower jaws of a Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammal from the Carpathian “Haţeg Island” of Transylvania, Romania allows for the first time description of the complete dentition of a kogaionid and demonstration that the enigmatic Barbatodon transylvanicus presents a mosaic of primitive and derived characters.
Abstract: Mammals that inhabit islands are characterized by peculiar morphologies in comparison to their mainland relatives. Here we report the discovery of a partial skull associated with the lower jaws of a Late Cretaceous (≈70 Ma) multituberculate mammal from the Carpathian “Haţeg Island” of Transylvania, Romania. The mammal belongs to the Kogaionidae, one of the rare families that survived the Cretaceous—Paleogene mass extinction in Europe. The excellent preservation of this specimen allows for the first time description of the complete dentition of a kogaionid and demonstration that the enigmatic Barbatodon transylvanicus presents a mosaic of primitive and derived characters, and that it is phylogenetically basal among the Cimolodonta. Another peculiarity is the presence of red pigmentation in its tooth enamel. The red coloration is present on the anterior side of the incisors and on the cusps of most of the teeth. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) analysis reveals that the pigmented enamel contains iron, as in living placentals. Such a red pigmentation is known in living soricine shrews and many families of rodents, where it is thought to increase the resistance of the enamel to the abrasion that occurs during “grinding” mastication. The extended pattern of red pigment distribution in Barbatodon is more similar to that in eulipotyplan insectivores than to that in rodents and suggests a very hard diet and, importantly, demonstrates that its grasping incisors were not ever-growing. As inferred for other endemic Transylvanian vertebrates such as dwarf herbivorous dinosaurs and unusual theropod dinosaurs, insularity was probably the main factor of survival of such a primitive mammalian lineage relative to other mainland contemporaries of the Northern hemisphere.
38 citations
1 Jan 2005
TL;DR: Barbatodon transylvanicus is shown to be a valid taxon, that belongs together with other multituberculates from the Haţeg Basin and the Cretaceous-Paleogene genus Hainina to the European endemic family Kogaionidae.
Abstract: Barbatodon transylvanicus is the first mammal described from the Mesozoic of Romania, based on an isolated molar found in the Maastrichtian continental deposits near Pui village. This tooth was subject of controversies since its discovery, being considered either a first upper or lower molar by different authors, even receiving different names. The systematic affinities and paleobiogeographic significance of this taxon were accordingly poorly understood. The peculiar morphology of the holotype was the main reason for the uncertainties concerning the specimen, hindering for long time the understanding of its true affinities and relationships. Barbatodon was listed until recently as probable member of the Paracimexomys group, a "Middle" - Late Cretaceous North American clade. The discovery of a partial multituberculate skeleton at Pui allows the critical reassessment of the validity and relationships of Barbatodon transylvanicus. The new specimen includes the almost complete lower dentition, associated with M2; comparisons with other Haţeg multituberculate remains suggest it is referable to Barbatodon transylvanicus. Barbatodon transylvanicus is shown to be a valid taxon, that belongs together with other multituberculates from the Haţeg Basin and the Cretaceous-Paleogene genus Hainina to the European endemic family Kogaionidae. This taxonomic reinterpretation has also important systematic and paleobiogeographic consequences.
31 citations
TL;DR: Barbatodon oardaensis n. sp. as discussed by the authors is characterized by M1 cusp formula 3:4:2 and is much smaller than the two other Maastrichtian kogaionids from Transylvania, Barbatodon transylvanicus and Kogaionon ungureanui.
20 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported new remains of B. transylvanicus from the Maastrichtian locality of Pui (Hunedoara District) in the Hațeg Basin, including the most complete dentaries found to date with complete cheek teeth rows.
Abstract: The so-called “Hațeg Island” (Transylvania, Romania) is well known for its rich and peculiar Late Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages, including dwarf dinosaurs, first reported at the end of the 19th century. Besides dinosaurs, other important members of the “Hațeg Island” terrestrial ecosystems were the multituberculate mammals. Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) multituberculates are extremely rare in Europe, being known exclusively from the “Hațeg Island.” Two genera are reported from this area: Kogaionon, with the single species K. ungureanui, and Barbatodon, with two species: B. transylvanicus and B. oardaensis. Both genera belong to the European endemic family Kogaionidae. We report herein new remains of B. transylvanicus from the Maastrichtian locality of Pui (Hunedoara District) in the Hațeg Basin, including the most complete dentaries found to date with complete cheek teeth rows. Intraspecific variability of this species in dentary shape, tooth morphology, and size difference is highlighted.
13 citations
TL;DR: Despite their Maastrichtian age, the very simple and conservative dental morphology of these Romanian kogaionids suggests that they originated from an eobaatarid-like ancestor dispersing from Asia or possibly already existing in Europe between the Barremian and Albian, 40 to 55 Ma earlier.
Abstract: Among the Late Cretaceous fossil sites of Europe, only those from the so-called “Haţeg Island” in Transylvania, western Romania, are remarkable by their abundance in mammal remains. Curiously, all of them belong to a single family of multituberculates, the Kogaionidae, one of the rare families that survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction in Europe. Kogaionids are mostly represented by isolated teeth except for three partial large skulls from the Maastrichtian Sânpetru Formation of the Haţeg Basin that have been described from the Sânpetru locality as Kogaionon ungureanui and from the Pui locality as Barbatodon transylvanicus and Litovoi tholocephalos. Here we report for the first time the discovery of a partial skull associated with p4 of a small-sized kogaionid from the Nalaţ-Vad locality in the Sânpetru Formation that we refer to Kogaionon radulescui, sp. nov. An updated phylogenetic analysis, including seven Maastrichtian and Paleocene kogaionids is performed and confirms that Kogaionidae is a monophyletic clade at the base of Cimolodonta. Kogaionon differs from Barbatodon in its narrower snout, proportionally smaller P1, narrower anterior part of P4 with four similar-sized cusps in the middle row, more squared or rounded M1 with an anteroposteriorly longer lingual row, and shorter p4 (at least for K. radulescui). Litovoi tholocephalos is here considered to be a junior synonym of B. transylvanicus. Despite their Maastrichtian age, the very simple and conservative dental morphology of these Romanian kogaionids suggests that they originated from an eobaatarid-like ancestor dispersing from Asia or possibly already existing in Europe between the Barremian and Albian, 40 to 55 Ma earlier.
4 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2005 | 1 |