Kingdom Animalia Class Mammalia Family Pinheirodontidae Scientific name Lavocatia alfambrensis | Phylum Chordata Order Multituberculata Species L. alfambrensis Rank Genus | |
Similar Sunnyodon, Kamptobaatar, Plagiaulax | ||
Lavocatia is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain. It was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, and lived alongside of dinosaurs. Like most Mesozoic mammals, it was a shrewish-sized animal. It's in the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and family Pinheirodontidae. The genus Lavocatia was named by J. I. Canudo and G. Cuenca in 1996 based on a single tooth, with the generic epithet in honor of French paleontologist René Lavocat and the specific epithet a reference to the town of Alfambra.
The species Lavocatia alfambrensis is known from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous)-age strata of Galve, Spain. This genus is apparently differentiated by the number of cusps on the tooth; 15. Also referred to in the reference is Peramura. This was a more "advanced" group of mammals, possibly ancestral to ourselves (see Peramus).