Meniscoessus Temporal range: | |
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Meniscoessus skull in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park, Colorado | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | † Multituberculata |
Family: | † Cimolomyidae |
Genus: | † Meniscoessus Cope, 1882 |
Species | |
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Meniscoessus is a genus of extinct multituberculates from the Upper Cretaceous Period that lived in North America.
It is a member of the order Multituberculata, belonging to the suborder Cimolodonta and family Cimolomyidae. The multituberculates were primitive, rodent-like mammals occupying the modern rodent ecological niche. They were significant for having diverged early in mammalian evolution, co-existing with dinosaurs for ~100 million years, surviving through the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event and lasting until the end of the Paleogene, likely having been replaced by true rodents. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Meniscoessus lived during the Santonian, Campanian and Maastrichtian ages of the Upper Cretaceous. This was a period of significant diversification of multiturbiculates, and evidence that contradicts the popular misconception that mammals were unable to thrive due to being outcompeted by the dinosaurs. [5] [6] [7] They are useful as index fossils for the Judithian, Edmontonian, and Lancian faunal stages. [8] Like most early mammals, Meniscoessus fossils mainly consist of teeth. Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and Jørn Hurum considered them to be the "best known" members of the Cimolomyidae. [9]
The genus Meniscoessus was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1882. [10] Members of this genus have been previously classified under the following genus names: Cimolomys (partly); Dipriodon ; Halodon; Oracodon; Moeniscoessus; Selenacodon (partly); and Tripriodon. As Osborn pointed out in 1891, a number of erroneous discoveries had been made as a result of analyzing different teeth of the same animal, different individuals of the same species, and violating the principle of priority due to workers ignoring previously published discoveries. [11]
There may have been confusion with some teeth described as belonging to small carnivorous dinosaurs. [ citation needed ] These were further christened Dipriodon, Tripriodon, and others, including Triprotodon.[ citation needed ] Close similarities were then noticed with an already established dinosaur genus, Paronychodon (Cope 1876), also based on teeth from the Laramie Formation. [ citation needed ] Over time, an impressive school of names was synonymized under P. However, this is now considered a nomen dubium .
Several other names have been in circulation, such as Meniscoessus bustus, and Meniscoessus coelatus. The first is probably a variant of M. robustus, while the latter seems to have been connected with dinosaur teeth. [ citation needed ]
Multituberculata is an extinct order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, and reached a peak diversity during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. They eventually declined from the mid-Paleocene onwards, disappearing from the known fossil record in the late Eocene. They are the most diverse order of Mesozoic mammals with more than 200 species known, ranging from mouse-sized to beaver-sized. These species occupied a diversity of ecological niches, ranging from burrow-dwelling to squirrel-like arborealism to jerboa-like hoppers. Multituberculates are usually placed as crown mammals outside either of the two main groups of living mammals—Theria, including placentals and marsupials, and Monotremata—but usually as closer to Theria than to monotremes. They are considered to be closely related to Euharamiyida and Gondwanatheria as part of Allotheria.
Bolodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and North America. It was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata and belongs to the suborder Plagiaulacida and family Plagiaulacidae.
Eobaatar is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia, Spain and England. A member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, it lies within the suborder Plagiaulacida and family Eobaataridae. The genus Eobaatar was named by Kielan-Jaworowska Z., Dashzeveg D. and Trofimov B.A. in 1987. Its name was made from Greek "eos" = "dawn" and Mongolian "baatar" = "hero"", "warrior".
Monobaatar is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia. It was within the also extinct order Multituberculata, and lived during the "age of the dinosaurs". It is also within the suborder "Plagiaulacida" and has been tentatively referred to the family Eobaataridae, though it probably is not a member.
Paracimexomys is a genus of extinct mammals in the extinct Multituberculata order. Paracimexomys lived during the Cretaceous period. The few fossils remains come from North America. Some Romanian fossils were also tentatively assigned to this genus, though that classification now seems doubtful.
Bryceomys is an extinct mammal that lived during the late Cretaceous period and thus shared the world with dinosaurs. It was a member of the also extinct order of Multituberculata. It was within the suborder of Cimolodonta, and a member of the Paracimexomys group.
Cimexomys is an extinct North American mammal that lived from the Upper Cretaceous to the Paleocene. For a while, it shared the world with dinosaurs, but outlived them. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata and lies within the suborder Cimolodonta. It is perhaps a member of the Paracimexomys group, though it is not certain.
Bulganbaatar is an extinct genus of early mammals from the Upper Cretaceous.
Nemegtbaatar is an extinct genus of mammal from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now Central Asia. It belonged to the order Multituberculata. Nemegtbaatar is within the suborder Cimolodonta and is a member of the superfamily Djadochtatherioidea.
Sphenopsalis is a genus of extinct mammal from the Paleocene of what is now Central Asia. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata, and lies within the suborder Cimolodonta and the superfamily Taeniolabidoidea. The genus was named by William Diller Matthew, W. Granger and George Gaylord Simpson in 1928.
Taeniolabis is a genus of extinct multituberculate mammal from the Paleocene of North America.
Neoplagiaulax is a mammal genus from the Paleocene of Europe and North America. In the case of the latter continent, there may possibly be some slightly earlier, Upper Cretaceous material too. It existed in the age immediately following the extinction of the last dinosaurs. This animal was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata, lying within the suborder Cimolodonta and family Neoplagiaulacidae.
Mesodma is an extinct genus of mammal, a member of the extinct order Multituberculata within the suborder Cimolodonta, family Neoplagiaulacidae. It lived during the upper Cretaceous and Paleocene Periods of what is now North America. The earliest definitive record is from the late Santonian stage strata of the Straight Cliffs Formation. A single premolar tooth from the lower Cenomanian stage strata of the Cedar Mountain Formation has been tentatively assigned to this genus based on its similarity, but its describers noted that it is unlikely that Mesodma lived during that time.
Parectypodus is an extinct genus of mammals that lived from Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to Eocene time in North America. It is a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata, suborder Cimolodonta, family Neoplagiaulacidae. It was named by G.L. Jepsen in 1930.
Barbatodon is a mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous period. It lived in Transylvania at the same time as some of the last dinosaurs and was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata. It is within the suborder of Cimolodonta, and the family Kogaionidae. The genus Barbatodon was named by Constantin Rădulescu and Petre Mihai Samson in 1986.
Cimolomys is a mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata within the suborder Cimolodonta and family Cimolomyidae.
Viridomys is a genus of extinct mammal from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. It was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata, and lived during the Mesozoic, also known as the "age of the dinosaurs." It's within the suborder of Cimolodonta, though its further affinities are unclear.
Ferugliotherium is a genus of fossil mammals in the family Ferugliotheriidae from the Campanian and/or Maastrichtian period of Argentina. It contains a single species, Ferugliotherium windhauseni, which was first described in 1986. Although originally interpreted on the basis of a single brachydont (low-crowned) molar as a member of Multituberculata, an extinct group of small, rodent-like mammals, it was recognized as related to the hypsodont (high-crowned) Sudamericidae following the discovery of additional material in the early 1990s. After a jaw of the sudamericid Sudamerica was described in 1999, these animals were no longer considered to be multituberculates and a few fossils that were previously considered to be Ferugliotherium were assigned to unspecified multituberculates instead. Since 2005, a relationship between gondwanatheres and multituberculates has again received support. A closely related animal, Trapalcotherium, was described in 2009 on the basis of a single tooth.
Ferugliotheriidae is one of three known families in the order Gondwanatheria, an enigmatic group of extinct mammals. Gondwanatheres have been classified as a group of uncertain affinities or as members of Multituberculata, a major extinct mammalian order. The best-known representative of Ferugliotheriidae is the genus Ferugliotherium from the Late Cretaceous epoch in Argentina. A second genus, Trapalcotherium, is known from a single tooth, a first lower molariform, from a different Late Cretaceous Argentinean locality. Another genus known from a single tooth, Argentodites, was first described as an unrelated multituberculate, but later identified as possibly related to Ferugliotherium. Finally, a single tooth from the Paleogene of Peru, LACM 149371, perhaps a last upper molariform, and a recent specimen from Mexico, may represent related animals.
The Williams Fork Formation is a Campanian to Maastrichtian (Edmontonian) geologic formation of the Mesaverde Group in Colorado. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, most notably Pentaceratops sternbergii,. Other fossils found in the formation are the ammonite Lewyites, tyrannosaurids, dromaeosaurids, troodontids, nodosaurids, ankylosaurids, hadrosaurids, hybodonts, neosuchian crocodylomorphs, and the mammals Glasbius and Meniscoessus collomensis.