Hahnia is a poorly known genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of meat-eating

Carnivore

A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...

 mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

-like reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s (Therapsids) that lived during the Upper Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. This genus is based on tiny, isolated teeth, and its affinities with other cynodont

Cynodont

Cynodontia or cynodonts are a taxon of therapsids which first appeared in the Late Permian and were eventually distributed throughout all seven continents by the Early Triassic . This clade includes modern mammals and their extinct close relatives. They were one of the most diverse groups of...

s are unclear. The generic name is invalid, thus the inverted commas. The name Hahnia has already been used for a spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

. The authors are aware of this, and will doubtless come up with a new name sometime in the future.

The genus Hahnia ("for Hahn") was named by Godefroit P. and Battail B. in 1997 based on a single species.

Fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 remains of the species "Hahnia" obliqua have been found in the Norian (late) - Rhaetian (early) (Upper Triassic)-age strata

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Apart from not yet having a proper name, these teeth look rather boring. The crown slopes backwards and has three cusps, though that's more apparent when seen from above than it is from the side. The largest cusp, the middle one, has a "somewhat blunt" apex. Its two colleagues, which "are not very well separated from the main cusp", are "very blunt", (quotes from Godfroit & Battauk 1997, p.588). "There is no constriction between the crown and the root."

Boring looking or not, these were nevertheless effective for cutting up small portions of prey. The authors discuss similarities with teeth of galesaurids (something like forerunners of the eucynodonts), Cynognathus

Cynognathus

Cynognathus crateronotus was a meter-long predator of the Early to Middle Triassic. It was among the more mammal-like of the Synapsids, a member of a grouping called Eucynodontia. The genus Cynognathus had an almost worldwide distribution...

, chiniquodontids

Chiniquodontidae

Chiniquodontidae is a family of meat-eating advanced mammal-like reptiles that lived during the Upper Triassic of South America and perhaps Europe. A further possible representative, Aleodon, has been identified from the Middle Triassic of Africa...

, teitheledontids

Trithelodontidae

The tritheledontids, also known as ictidosaurs, were small to medium-sized cynodonts. They were extremely mammal-like, highly specialized cynodonts, although they still retained a very few reptilian anatomical traits. Tritheledontids were mainly carnivorous or insectivorous, though some species...

, dromatheriids and various other small cynodonts of the European Upper Triassic; They are all carnivores of one size or another. However, as there are also clear differences to the tiny teeth of "Hahnia", the authors plump for Cynodontia incertae sedis (aka of some kind or other).