| Ailuravus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ailuravus macrurus and Strigogyps sapea | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Infraorder: | Protrogomorpha |
| Family: | † Ischyromyidae |
| Subfamily: | † Ailuravinae |
| Genus: | † Ailuravus Rütimeyer, 1891 |
| Species | |
| |
Ailuravus is a genus of prehistoric rodents in the family Ischyromyidae.
Ailuravus macrurus ("big-tailed cat-ancestor") was a primitive, squirrel-like rodent, one of the earliest known rodents, from the Messel pit Lagerstätte, in Germany. It lived during the Eocene period of Europe, in forests, and may have been arboreal. Furthermore, this species was discovered to have inhabited South Asia, specifically India. This was found through the comparison of the teeth found from each organism from both places. Due to this discovery, there is thought to be a connection between South Asia and Europe before they were separated and shifted into continents.
In India, Ailuravus macrurus are thought to have inhabited the Cambay Basin, so they most likely preferred to live near aquatic regions along with fish species.
Viverravidae is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives to extant carnivorans.
Rhinotitan is an extinct genus of brontothere from the Eocene of Mongolia, where three species were described from the Shara Murun formation. The genus included medium to large brontotheres which had long skulls with nasal horns. Like other solid-horned brontotheres, Rhinotitan was sexually dimorphic in horn size. In living mammals, this pattern is found in species that live in groups; males have the larger horns, and use them in ritualized combats with other males to decide control of territories that offer breeding access to females. Most horned brontotheres had dish-shaped skulls assumed to be adapted for such combats. However, the skull of Rhinotitan was concave only near the front; the top and back of the skull was rounded in a way similar to hornless brontotheres. The functional significance of this character is unknown.
Mylagaulus is an extinct genus of rodents in the family Mylagaulidae. Mylagaulus lived in the Americas during the middle to late Miocene. The genus contains the following species:
Perikoala is an extinct genus of marsupials, related to the modern koala. The genus diverged from a common ancestor of the other koala genera Nimiokoala, Litokoala, and Phascolarctos, which contains the living koala.
Neochoerus aesopi was a relatively large rodent species native to North America until their extinction about 12,000 years ago, being closely related to modern capybaras. It was part of the subfamily Hydrochoerinae. Fossils of it have been found in U.S. states such as Florida and South Carolina. The species was originally outlined in 1853, it weighed about 80 kg similar in size to the modern day capybara.
Tetraclaenodon was a genus of small and early ungulate mammals that was part of the Phenacodontidae family.
Microsyops is a plesiadapiform primate found in Middle Eocene in North America. It is in the family Microsyopidae. It appears to have had a more developed sense of smell than other early primates. It is believed to have eaten fruit, and its fossils show the oldest known dental cavities in a mammal.
Caestocorbula is an extinct genus of saltwater clams in the family Corbulidae. The name has been created for fossils from the Eocene of Belgium.
Valenzuela is a genus of psocoptera in the family Caeciliusidae, the lizard barklice. Some species are extinct and date to the Eocene of Poland or Russia. There are at least 300 described species in Valenzuela.
Digitolabrum is an extinct genus of sea snails in the family Aporrhaidae. Most species are from the Eocene of France. D. abedi and D. elegans are from the Eocene of Egypt.
Calliderma is an extinct genus of sea stars in the family Goniasteridae. Species are known from the Cretaceous to the Eocene.
Campsosternus is a genus of click beetles in the subfamily Dendrometrinae. The genus is extant but there is at least one described species from the Eocene of the Czech Republic.
Copidita is a genus of false blister beetles in the subfamily Oedemerinae. It is an extant genus with at least one fossil species described from the Florissant Eocene of Colorado.
Closterocoris is a genus of plant bugs in the family Miridae.
Cancelloceras is an extinct genus of ammonites in the family Gastrioceratidae. Species are from the Carboniferous.
Cyanopterus is a genus of wasps in the family Braconidae. It is an extant genus but there is at least one fossil species from the Eocene of the United Kingdom.
Glyptoactis is a mostly extinct genus of bivalves in the family Carditidae. They have been recovered from the Castle Hayne Limestone geologic formation in North Carolina and in France.
Hardistiella montanensis is a fossil fish and extinct species of lamprey found, dating from the Carboniferous period, at the Bear Gulch Limestone site in the U.S. state of Montana.
Palaeophasianus is an extinct genus of flightless Geranoididae birds that lived in North America during the Eocene period. Robert Wilson Shufeldt classified Palaeophasianus as a galliform when he described it in 1913. However it was transferred to Cracidae in 1964 by Pierce Brodkorb, while Joel Cracraft in 1968 placed it in Gruiformes.
Sivacobus is an extinct species of antelope that lived in South Asia during the Plio-Pleistocene.
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