Morganucodon
| Morganucodon Temporal range: Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic | |
|---|---|
| Scan and reconstruction of the M. oehleri holotype skull | |
| Life restoration of Morganucodon watsoni | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Clade: | Therapsida |
| Clade: | Cynodontia |
| Clade: | Mammaliaformes |
| Order: | †Morganucodonta |
| Family: | †Morganucodontidae |
| Genus: | †Morganucodon Kühne, 1949 |
| Type species | |
| †Morganucodon watsoni Kühne, 1949 | |
| Species | |
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Morganucodon ("Glamorgan tooth") is an early mammaliaform genus that lived from the Late Triassic to the Middle Jurassic. It first appeared about 205 million years ago. Unlike many other early mammaliaforms, Morganucodon is well represented by abundant and well-preserved (though in the vast majority of cases disarticulated) material. Most of this comes from Glamorgan in Wales (Morganucodon watsoni), but fossils have also been found in Yunnan Province in China (Morganucodon oehleri) and various parts of Europe and North America. Some closely related animals (Megazostrodon) are known from exquisite fossils from South Africa.
The name comes from a Latinization of Morganuc, the name for South Glamorgan in the Domesday Book, the county of Wales where it was discovered by Walter Georg Kühne, giving the meaning "Glamorgan tooth".