Spalacotherium

{{Short description|Extinct family of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|fossil_range={{fossilrange|Berriasian|Barremian}}

|image=EB1911 Marsupialia - Spalacotherium tricuspidens, Purbeck beds.jpg

|image_caption=Spalacotherium tricuspidens

|taxon=Spalacotherium

|authority=Owen, 1854

|subdivision_ranks=Species

|subdivision=

• Spalacotherium tricuspidens
  Owen, 1854 (type)
• Spalacotherium taylori
  Clemens & Lees, 1971
• Spalacotherium henkeli
  Krebs, 1985
• Spalacotherium evansae
  Ensom & Sigogneau-Russell, 2000
• Spalacotherium hookeri
  Gill, 2004

|synonyms_ref=

|synonyms=

• Peralestes longirostris Owen, 1871

}}

Spalacotherium is a genus of extinct mammal from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. The type species Spalacotherium tricuspidens was originally named by Richard Owen in 1854, and its material includes maxillary and dentary fragments and many teeth from the Berriasian Lulworth Formation of southern England. Referred species include S. taylori, S. evansae and S. hookeri also from the Lulworth deposits, and S. henkeli from Barremian deposits of Galve, Spain.{{cite journal|last1=Ensom|first1=P.C.|last2=Sigogneau-Russel|first2=D.|year=2000|title=New symmetrodonts (Mammalia, Theria) from the Purbeck Limestone Group, Lower Cretaceous, southern England|journal=Cretaceous Research|volume=21|issue=6|pages=767–779|doi=10.1006/cres.2000.0227|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/14570/files/PAL_E1783.pdf }}{{cite journal|last=Gill|first=P.|year=2004|title=A new symmetrodont from the Early Cretaceous of England|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=24|issue=3|pages=748–752|doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2004)024[0748:ANSFTE]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=86736277 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15196/files/PAL_E2472.pdf }}{{cite journal|last1=Averianov|first1=A.O.|last2=Martin|first2=T.|last3=Lopatin|first3=A.V.|year=2013|title=A new phylogeny for basal Trechnotheria and Cladotheria and affinities of South American endemic Late Cretaceous mammals|journal=Naturwissenschaften|volume=100|issue=4|pages=311–326|doi=10.1007/s00114-013-1028-3|pmid=23494201|bibcode=2013NW....100..311A|s2cid=18504005}} The Lulworth taxon Peralestes longirostris, named by Owen in 1871, is a junior synonym of the type species S. tricuspidens. Spalacotherium is the namesake taxon of the family Spalacotheriidae, which is an extinct clade within Trechnotheria that may be closely related to the Gondwanan clade Meridiolestida, or united with the family Zhangheotheriidae to form Symmetrodonta.{{cite journal|last1=Han|first1=G.|last2=Meng|first2=J.|year=2016|title=A new spalacolestine mammal from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota and implications for the morphology, phylogeny, and palaeobiology of Laurasian 'symmetrodontans'|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=178|issue=2|pages=343–380|doi=10.1111/zoj.12416|doi-access=free}}S. evansae is also from the Berriasian aged Angeac-Charente bonebed in western France.Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.. [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03264773/document Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal turnover at the J/K boundary]. Geodiversitas, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris, In press. ffhal-03264773f

{{clade|style=font-size:85%; line-height:85%;

|label1=Spalacotheriidae

|1={{clade

|1=Spalacotherium

|2={{clade

|1=Akidolestes

|2={{clade

|1=Symmetrolestes

|label2=Spalacolestinae

|2={{clade

|1=Spalacotheroides

|2={{clade

|1=Yaverlestes

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|1=Heishanlestes

|2=Lactodens }}

|2={{clade

|1=Spalacotheridium

|2={{clade

|1=Spalacolestes

|2=Symmetrodontoides }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}