Loxaulax valdensis

Loxaulax is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of southern England. It was a member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, and lived alongside the dinosaurs. It lies within the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and family Eobaataridae. The genus Loxaulax was named by Simpson G.G. in 1928 based on one species.

Loxaulax valdensis

via iDigBio · CC BY · via iDigBio. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
LoxaulaxPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Multituberculata
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Multituberculata
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 6.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 132.6 Mya to 125.77 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 137.05 Mya to 121.4 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 4 of 4 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous138–137 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences137–136 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences136–136 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences136–135 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences135–135 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences135–134 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences134–134 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences134–133 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences133–133 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences126–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–124 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences124–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–123 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences122–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences121–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences132.6 Mya125.77 Mya137.6 Mya120.9 Mya

4 occurrences of Loxaulax valdensis on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

4 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Wadhurst Clay — 50.89°N, 0.69°ETunbridge Wells Sand — 51.08°N, 0.11°WWessex — 50.66°N, 1.13°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Loxaulax valdensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Loxaulax valdensis and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Loxaulax valdensis and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

20 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Loxaulax valdensis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

4 references

Each of the 4 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Loxaulax valdensis

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC BY
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Loxaulax valdensis was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLoxaulax through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Woodward 1911)