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Condylarthra is an informal group – previously considered an order – of extinct placental mammals, known primarily from the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. They are considered early, primitive ungulates. It is now largely considered to be a wastebasket taxon, having served as a dumping ground for classifying ungulates which had not been clearly established as part of either Perissodactyla or Cetartiodactyla, being composed thus of several unrelated lineages.
Uintatheriidae is a family of extinct ungulate mammals that includes Uintatherium. Uintatheres belong to the order Dinocerata, one of several extinct orders of primitive hoofed mammals that are sometimes united in the Condylarthra.
Phenacodus is an extinct genus of mammals from the late Paleocene through middle Eocene, about 55 million years ago. It is one of the earliest and most primitive of the ungulates, typifying the family Phenacodontidae and the order Perissodactyla.
Xenungulata is an order of extinct and primitive South American hoofed mammals that lived from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene. Fossils of the order are known from deposits in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia. The best known member of this enigmatic order is the genus Carodnia, a tapir-like and -sized animal with a gait similar to living African elephants.
Protungulatum is a extinct genus of pan-euungulate mammals within extinct family Protungulatidae, and also one of the earliest known placental mammals in the fossil record, that lived in North America from the Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene.
Pantodonta is an extinct suborder of eutherian mammals. These herbivorous mammals were one of the first groups of large mammals to evolve after the end of the Cretaceous. The last pantodonts died out at the end of the Eocene.
Mesonychidae is an extinct family of small to large-sized omnivorous-carnivorous mammals. They were endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Early Paleocene to the Early Oligocene, and were the earliest group of large carnivorous mammals in Asia. They are not closely related to any living mammals. Mesonychid taxonomy has long been disputed and they have captured popular imagination as "wolves on hooves," animals that combine features of both ungulates and carnivores. Skulls and teeth have similar features to early whales, and the family was long thought to be the ancestors of cetaceans. Recent fossil discoveries have overturned this idea; the consensus is that whales are highly derived artiodactyls. Some researchers now consider the family a sister group either to whales or to artiodactyls, close relatives rather than direct ancestors. Other studies define Mesonychia as basal to all ungulates, occupying a position between Perissodactyla and Ferae. In this case, the resemblances to early whales would be due to convergent evolution among ungulate-like herbivores that developed adaptations related to hunting or eating meat.
Periptychidae is a family of Paleocene placental mammals, known definitively only from North America. The family is part of a radiation of early herbivorous and omnivorous mammals classified in the extinct order "Condylarthra", which may be related to some or all living ungulates. Periptychids are distinguished from other "condylarths" by their teeth, which have swollen premolars and unusual vertical enamel ridges. The family includes both large and small genera, with the larger forms having robust skeletons. Known skeletons of periptychids suggest generalized terrestrial habits.
Didymictis is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammals known from the late Paleocene and early Eocene of North America. This genus in the family Viverravidae contains five species.
Meniscotherium is an extinct genus of dog-sized mammal which lived 54–38 million years ago. It was a herbivore and had hooves. Fossils have been found in Utah, New Mexico. and Colorado. Many individuals have been found together, indicating that it lived in groups.
The Clarkforkian North American Stage, on the geologic timescale, is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 56,800,000 to 55,400,000 years BP lasting 1.4 million years.
The Tiffanian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 60,200,000 to 56,800,000 years BP lasting 3.4 million years.
Hyopsodontidae is an extinct family of primitive mammals from the order Condylarthra, living from the Paleocene to the Eocene in North America and Eurasia. Condylarthra is now thought to be a wastebasket taxon; hyopsodontids have occasionally been speculated to be related to Afrotheria, but the most recent consensus is that they are related to Perissodactyla. Analysis of the inner ear shows shared characteristics with the Equoidea ; they may be a basal ungulate group near to perissodactyls.
Phenacodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals traditionally placed in the “wastebasket taxon” Condylarthra, which may instead represent early-stage perissodactyls. They lived in the Paleocene and Eocene epochs and their fossil remains have been found in North America and Europe.
The Willwood Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the late Paleocene to early Eocene, or Clarkforkian, Wasatchian and Bridgerian in the NALMA classification.
Ocepeia is an extinct genus of afrotherian mammal that lived in present-day Morocco during the middle Paleocene epoch, approximately 60 million years ago. First named and described in 2001, the type species is O. daouiensis from the Selandian stage of Morocco's Ouled Abdoun Basin. A second, larger species, O. grandis, is known from the Thanetian, a slightly younger stage in the same area. In life, the two species are estimated to have weighed about 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) and 10 kg (22 lb), respectively, and are believed to have been specialized leaf-eaters. The fossil skulls of Ocepeia are the oldest known afrotherian skulls, and the best-known of any Paleocene mammal in Africa.
Aletodon is a genus of ground dwelling insectivores, now extinct. The genus flourished from around 58.7 to 55.8 Ma. It was native to Colorado, Wyoming, and western North Dakota.
Orthaspidotherium was a European Paleocene genus of early herbivorous mammals of the family Pleuraspidotheriidae. It was included in the family Meniscotheriidae by Teilhard de Chardin in 1921-1922 and was subsequently separated into the family Pleuraspidotheriidae, before being placed in the family Phenacodontidae. The first complete skull of O. edwardsi was described in 2010, and the same paper once again places it in Pleuraspidotheriidae. A 2017 study further reiterates this view.
Chiromyoides is a small plesiadapid primatomorph that is known for its unusually robust upper and lower incisors, deep dentary, and comparatively small cheek teeth. Species of Chiromyoides are known from the middle Tiffanian through late Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMA) of western North America, and from late Paleocene deposits in the Paris Basin, France.
Sparnotheriodontidae is an enigmatic extinct family of litopterns known primarily from teeth. Sparnotheriodontids are one of two South American native ungulate clades known to have reached Antarctica, the other being astrapotheres.
References
- ↑ Gingerich, P. D. (1979). "Lambertocyon eximius, a new arctocyonid (Mammalia, Condylarthra) from the late Paleocene of western North America". Journal of Paleontology. 53 (3): 524–529. JSTOR 1303992.
- ↑ Archibald, J. David (1998). "Archaic ungulates ("Condylarthra")". In Christine M. Janis; Kathleen M. Scott; Louis L. Jacobs (eds.). Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America: Volume 1, Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulate Like Mammals. Cambridge University Press. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-521-35519-3.
- ↑ Michael O. Woodburne, ed. (2012). "Paleocene Biochronology: The Puercan Through Clarkforkian Land Mammal Ages". Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Mammals of North America: Biostratigraphy and Geochronology. Columbia University Press. pp. 84–. ISBN 978-0-231-50378-5.
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