A new docodont from the Forest Marble

Abstract

A description is given of a docodont lower jaw from the Forest Marble of Kirtlington Quarry in Oxfordshire. This specimen has one premolariform and two molariform teeth and it has been placed in a new genus and species Simpsonodon oxfordensis, gen. and sp. nov. Five isolated upper and five isolated lower teeth have been referred to the same species. One upper tooth comes from Watton Cliff in Dorset, the rest arc from Kirtlington Quarry. The new docodont is remarkable in having a well-defined ‘pseudotalonid’ lying mesial to the ‘trigonid’, and the upper molars are functionally similar to the quadritubercular molars of the Placentalia. The evolutionary significance of this is discussed.