Cimolesta
Encyclopedia
Cimolesta is an extinct order
of mammal
s. A few experts place the pangolin
s within Cimolesta, though most other experts prefer to place the pangolins within their own order, Pholidota.
Some experts place the enigmatic family
Ptolemaiidae within Cimolesta, also due to similarities between dental and skull anatomies with those of Pantolesta. If the Ptolemaiids were indeed cimolestids, then the range of Cimolesta would have ranged from the Late Cretaceous
to the early Miocene
, when the last ptolemaiid, Kelba
, disappeared in Eastern Africa
.
It is part of the cohort
Ferae
, and is possibly a sister taxon to the Perissodactyla. The Cimolesta contains several groups that are very different from each other, and are sometimes regarded as separate orders (which makes the Cimolesta a group between that of order and superorder): the herbivorous (and sometimes hooved) Pantodonta
, the insectivorous Didelphodonta (which contains the well-known genus Cimolestes
, a possible ancestor of the Carnivora
) the rodent-like Tillodonta, the possibly carnivorous and/or omnivorous Pantolesta, the Taeniodonta and the Apatotheria.
Several groups are believed to have descended from the Cimolesta: the Pholidota (which could be regarded a suborder of Cimolesta), the Creodonta
, and the Carnivora. The origins of the enigmatic Dinocerata
may lie within the Cimolesta as well. If so, it would make Cimolesta a paraphyletic group rather than a clade
, representing a basal group within the Laurasiatheria
ns. Cimolestans had a wide variety of body shapes, dentition and livestyles, though the majority of them were small to medium sized general mammals that bore superficial resemblances to rodent
s, weasel
s or opossums.
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
of 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...
s. A few experts place the pangolin
Pangolin
A pangolin , also scaly anteater or Trenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with...
s within Cimolesta, though most other experts prefer to place the pangolins within their own order, Pholidota.
Some experts place the enigmatic family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Ptolemaiidae within Cimolesta, also due to similarities between dental and skull anatomies with those of Pantolesta. If the Ptolemaiids were indeed cimolestids, then the range of Cimolesta would have ranged from the Late Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
to the early Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
, when the last ptolemaiid, Kelba
Kelba
Kelba is a village in Rapla Parish, Rapla County in northwestern Estonia....
, disappeared in Eastern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
It is part of the cohort
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
Ferae
Ferae
Ferae is a clade of mammals, consisting of the orders Carnivora and Pholidota . Pangolins do not look much like carnivorans , and were thought to be the closest relatives of Xenarthra...
, and is possibly a sister taxon to the Perissodactyla. The Cimolesta contains several groups that are very different from each other, and are sometimes regarded as separate orders (which makes the Cimolesta a group between that of order and superorder): the herbivorous (and sometimes hooved) Pantodonta
Pantodonta
The Pantodonta are an order of now extinct placental mammals.Pantodonts are well known from the Paleocene of North America and Asia, and one early genus Alcidedorbignya, that was found in the Paleocene of South America...
, the insectivorous Didelphodonta (which contains the well-known genus Cimolestes
Cimolestes
Cimolestes is a genus of early eutherians. Fossils have been found in North America, where they first appeared during the Late Cretaceous, and died out during the Paleocene....
, a possible ancestor of the Carnivora
Carnivora
The diverse order Carnivora |Latin]] carō "flesh", + vorāre "to devour") includes over 260 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, while the word "carnivore" can refer to any meat-eating animal...
) the rodent-like Tillodonta, the possibly carnivorous and/or omnivorous Pantolesta, the Taeniodonta and the Apatotheria.
Several groups are believed to have descended from the Cimolesta: the Pholidota (which could be regarded a suborder of Cimolesta), the Creodonta
Creodonta
The creodonts are an extinct order of mammals that lived from the Paleocene to the Miocene epochs. They shared a common ancestor with the Carnivora....
, and the Carnivora. The origins of the enigmatic Dinocerata
Dinocerata
Dinocerata mammals are an extinct order of plant-eating, rhinoceros-like hoofed creatures famous for their paired horns and tusk-like canine teeth...
may lie within the Cimolesta as well. If so, it would make Cimolesta a paraphyletic group rather than a clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
, representing a basal group within the Laurasiatheria
Laurasiatheria
Laurasiatheria is a large group of placental mammals believed to have originated on the northern supercontinent of Laurasia. It includes shrews, hedgehogs, pangolins, bats, whales, most hoofed mammals, and carnivorans, among others....
ns. Cimolestans had a wide variety of body shapes, dentition and livestyles, though the majority of them were small to medium sized general mammals that bore superficial resemblances to rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s, weasel
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
s or opossums.
Taxonomy
- Family Ernanodontidae?
- Genus Ernanodon
- Family Ptolemaiidae?
- Family PalaeoryctidaePalaeoryctidaePalaeoryctidae is an extinct group of relatively non-specialized placental mammals that strived in North America during the late Cretaceous and took part in the first placental evolutionary radiation together with other early mammals such as the leptictids.- Description :From a near-complete skull...
- Genus PalaeoryctesPalaeoryctesPalaeoryctes is an extinct genus of mammal from Middle to Late Palaeocene of North America.Palaeoryctes resembled a modern shrew, being slender and sharp-nosed, with typical insectivore teeth. It was around long, and weighed around . Palaeoryctes or its relatives may have evolved into the large...
- Genus Palaeoryctes
- Suborder Taeniodonta
- Family Stylinodontidae
- Genus SchochiaSchochiaSchochia sullivani is a primitive species of Taeniodont mammal from the early Paleocene of North America.-References:Lucas, Spencer G. and Thomas E. Williamson. "A New Taeniodont from the Paleocene of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico." Journal of Mammology Vol. 74, No. 1 , p. 175-179....
- Genus PsittacotheriumPsittacotheriumPsittacotherium is an extinct genus of taeniodont from the Paleocene of North America.- Sources :*Mammoths, Sabertooths, and Hominids by Jordi Agusti and Mauricio Anton*The Beginning of the Age of Mammals by Kenneth D. Rose...
- Genus StylinodonStylinodonStylinodon is an extinct genus of taeniodont mammal, and is the best known, and last genus of taeniodonts, lived some 45 million years ago during middle Eocene in North America....
- Genus Schochia
- Family Stylinodontidae
- Suborder Didelphodonta
- Family Cimolestidae
- Genus BetonniaBetonniaBetonnia is an extinct genus of cimolestid mammal which existed in New Mexico, during the early Paleocene . Its fossils have been recovered from the Nacimiento Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. It was first named by Thomas E. Williamson, Anne Weil and Barbara Standhardt in 2011 and the type...
- Genus ChacopterygusChacopterygusChacopterygus is an extinct genus of cimolestid mammal which existed in New Mexico, during the early Paleocene . Its fossils have been recovered from the Nacimiento Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. It was first named by Thomas E. Williamson, Anne Weil and Barbara Standhardt in 2011 and the...
- Genus CimolestesCimolestesCimolestes is a genus of early eutherians. Fossils have been found in North America, where they first appeared during the Late Cretaceous, and died out during the Paleocene....
- Genus Maelestes
- Genus Betonnia
- Family Cimolestidae
- Suborder Pantolesta
- Family Paroxyclaenidae
- Genus KopidodonKopidodonKopidodon is a genus of extinct squirrel-like mammals belonging to the order Cimolesta. Kopidodon was one of the largest tree-dwelling mammals known from Eocene Europe: growing 115 centimeters long . This mammal sported fearsome canine teeth, probably for defense. However its molars were designed...
- Genus Kopidodon
- Family PantolestidaePantolestidaePantolestidae is an extinct family of semi-aquatic, placental mammals that took part in the first placental evolutionary radiation together with other early mammals such as the leptictids....
- Genus Bisonalveus
- Genus Buxolestes
- Genus Palaeospinopa
- Family Paroxyclaenidae
- Suborder Apatotheria
- Family ApatemyidaeApatemyidaeApatemyidae is an extinct family of placental mammals that took part in the first placental evolutionary radiation together with other early mammals such as the leptictids....
- Genus HeterohyusHeterohyusHeterohyus is an extinct genus of apatemyid from the early to late Eocene.-References:* McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8...
- Genus Heterohyus
- Family Apatemyidae
- Suborder PantodontaPantodontaThe Pantodonta are an order of now extinct placental mammals.Pantodonts are well known from the Paleocene of North America and Asia, and one early genus Alcidedorbignya, that was found in the Paleocene of South America...
- Family Barylambdidae
- Genus BarylambdaBarylambdaBarylambda is an extinct genus of pantodont mammal from the middle to late Paleocene, well known from several finds in North America. Like other pantodonts, Barylambda was a heavyset, 5-toed plantigrade. Three species of Barylambda are currently recognised...
- Genus Barylambda
- Family Coryphodontidae
- Genus CoryphodonCoryphodonCoryphodon is an extinct genus of mammal. It was widespread in North America between 59 and 51 million years ago. It is regarded as the ancestor of the genus Hypercoryphodon of Mid Eocene Mongolia....
- Genus HypercoryphodonHypercoryphodonHypercoryphodon was a genus of rhinoceros-sized pantodont native to Middle Eocene Mongolia, and was very similar to its ancestor, Coryphodon....
- Genus Coryphodon
- Family Pantolambdidae
- Genus PantolambdaPantolambdaPantolambda is an extinct genus of Paleocene pantodont mammal. Pantolambda lived during the middle Paleocene, and has been found both in Asia and North America. A generalized early mammal, it had a vaguely cat-like body, heavy head, long tail, and five-toed plantigrade feet ending in blunt nails...
- Genus Pantolambda
- Family Titanoideidae
- Genus TitanoidesTitanoidesTitanoides is an extinct genus of pantodont mammal. It was about long and weighed between 200 and 300 pounds.Titanoides was one of the early Tertiary browsing mammals called pantodonts. Their limbs were short and stout, and they were bear-like in appearance. Some were the size of a rhinoceros....
- Genus Titanoides
- Family Barylambdidae
- Suborder TillodontiaTillodontiaTillodontia is an extinct order of mammals that may be related to the pantodonts. They were widespread across North America and Eurasia during the late Paleocene and most of the Eocene. They went extinct in Europe during the early Eocene, while North American and Asian forms survived until the...
- Family Esthonychidae
- Genus TrogosusTrogosusTrogosus is an extinct genus of tillodont mammal. Fossils have been found in Wyoming, and date from the Eocene between 54.8 to 33.7 million years ago....
- Genus Trogosus
- Family Esthonychidae