Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 27, 2026

Amphitheriidae

Amphitheriidae is a family of Mesozoic mammals restricted to the Middle Jurassic of Britain, with indeterminate members also possibly known from the equivalently aged Itat Formation in Siberia and the Anoual Formation of Morocco. They were members of Cladotheria, more derived than members of Dryolestida, and possibly forming a close relationship with Peramuridae. Amphitheriidae is the only family of the order Amphitheriida.

Last revised
Jun 27, 2026
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Amphitheriidae
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Prototribosphenida
Order: †Amphitheriida
Prothero, 1981
Family: †Amphitheriidae
Owen, 1846
Genera

Amphitheriidae is a family of Mesozoic mammals restricted to the Middle Jurassic of Britain, with indeterminate members also possibly known from the equivalently aged Itat Formation in Siberia and the Anoual Formation of Morocco. They were members of Cladotheria, more derived than members of Dryolestida, and possibly forming a close relationship with Peramuridae.1 Amphitheriidae is the only family of the order Amphitheriida.

Classification

 Cladogram after Panciroli et al. 2018:1

Cladotheria

Cladogram after Magallanes et al, 2024:2

Cladotheria
References

References

  1. Panciroli E; Roger B.J. Benson; Richard J. Butler (2018). "New partial dentaries of amphitheriid mammalian Palaeoxonodon ooliticus from Scotland, and posterior dentary morphology in early cladotherians". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 63 (2). doi:10.4202/app.00434.2017.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Magallanes, Isaac; Beard, K. Christopher; Martin, Thomas; Luo, Zhe-Xi (2023-09-03). "A new dryolestid fossil from the Late Jurassic illuminates molar root structure of dryolestids". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 43 (5). doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2322740. ISSN 0272-4634.
Further reading

Further reading

  • Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo, Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 14,395.
  • Close RA., Davis BM., Walsh S., Wolniewicz AS., Friedman M. and Benson RB. 2016. A lower jaw of Palaeoxonodon from the Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, sheds new light on the diversity of British stem therians. Palaeontology, 59, 155-169