Our sources give no reliable size for Morganucodon, so this outline of its body shape is not drawn to scale.
- When
- Oldest teeth about 205 million years old
- Where
- Quarries in south Wales, and elsewhere
Morganucodon means “Glamorgan tooth”. Its fossils were first found in a quarry in south Wales about seventy years ago: tiny bones and teeth of shrew-like animals that hid in the undergrowth while dinosaurs walked overhead.
It was long thought of as the first mammal. Its oldest fossils, isolated teeth, are about 205 million years old.
Found in Britain. See where Britain was at the time in Britain’s journey.
Read more in Before the dinosaurs.
Also in mammals and their kin
- Dimetrodon A sail-backed hunter on our side of the family tree
- Brasilodon Possibly the oldest mammal, or one of its closest relatives
- Pakicetus One of the first whales, with four legs
- Dorudon An early whale that lived wholly in the sea
- Blue whale The largest animal ever to live
- Woolly mammoth An Ice Age elephant of the far north
Sources
- Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, Meet Morgie
- Natural History Museum, London (press release), Earliest known mammal is identified using fossil tooth records