The earliest mammal of the European Paleocene: The multituberculate Hainina

A new species of multituberculate mammal, Hainina pyrenaica n. sp. is descr ibed from Fontllonga-3 (Tremp Basin, Southern Pyrenees, Spain), correlated to the later part of chron C29r just above the K/T boundary. This taxon rep resents the earliest European Tertiary mammal recovered so far, and is rela ted to other Hainina species from the European Paleocene. A revision of the species of Hainina allows recognition of a new species, H. vianeyae n. sp. from the Late Paleocene of Cernay (France). The genus is included in the f amily Kogaionidae Radulescu and Samson, 1996 from the Late Cretaceous of Ro mania on the basis of unique dental characters. The Kogaionidae had a pecul iar masticatory system with a large, blade-like lower p4, similar to that o f advanced Ptilodontoidea, but occluding against two small upper premolars, interpreted as P4 and P5, instead of a large upper P4. The endemic Europea n Kogaionidae derive from an Early Cretaceous group with five premolars, an d evolved during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. The genus Hainina repre sents a European multituberculate family that survived the K/T boundary mas s extinction event.