Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized dental remains from a new genus and species of plagiaulacid multituberculate in the Lower Cretaceous Lulworth Formation of the Purbeck Group, Dorset, United Kingdom.
An artist’s restoration of Novaculadon mirabilis. Image credit: Hamzah Imran.
Multituberculates are a highly successful and the most diverse group of Mesozoic mammals.
Over 200 species are known to science, ranging from mouse-sized to beaver-sized creatures.
These mammals existed from the Middle Jurassic throughout the Mesozoic and persisted past the end-Cretaceous extinction surviving until the early Oligocene.
They occupied various ecological niches, from burrow-dwelling to squirrel-like tree climbers.
The newly-discovered species roamed our planet during the Berriasian age of the Early Cretaceous epoch, around 143 million years ago.
Dubbed Novaculadon mirabilis, this mammal was omnivorous, likely feeding on small invertebrates such as worms and insects.
Its sharp-pointed incisors and ridged, blade-like premolars indicate a feeding strategy distinct from modern rodents like squirrels and rats.
“This research demonstrates how early mammals carved out ecological niches while dinosaurs dominated the landscape,” said University of Portsmouth Emeritus Professor David Martill and his colleagues.
The 1.65-cm-long jaw of Novaculadon mirabilis was found by University of Portsmouth undergraduate student Benjamin Weston in 2024.
“The fossil is characterized by a long pointed incisor at the front, followed by a gap and then four razor-sharp premolars,” the paleontologists said.
“While superficially resembling a rabbit’s jaw, the pointed incisors and distinctive premolars identify it as belonging to the multituberculate group.”
The specimen came from a locality on the upper part of the beach in Durlston Bay, Dorset, United Kingdom.
This locality belongs to the Lower Cretaceous Lulworth Formation of the Purbeck Group.
“The new specimen is the most complete multituberculate material yet recovered from the Purbeck Group,” the researchers said.
“The fossil was obtained from a highly distinctive horizon within the Cherty Freshwater Beds, the so-called Flint Bed, which scientists considered to represent deposition in a freshwater lagoon.”
“Novaculadon mirabilis is also the first mammal to be recovered from the Flint Bed,” they added.
The discovery of Novaculadon mirabilis is described in a paper in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
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Benjamin T. Weston et al. A new multituberculate (Mammalia, Allotheria) from the Lulworth Formation (Cretaceous, Berriasian) of Dorset, England. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, published online July 9, 2025; doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2025.101128