Palaeoryctes is an extinct genus of mammal from Middle to Late Palaeocene of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

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Palaeoryctes resembled a modern shrew

Shrew

A shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...

, being slender and sharp-nosed, with typical insectivore

Insectivore

An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures. An alternate term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of eating insects....

 teeth. It was around 12.5 centimetres (4.9 in) long, and weighed around 20 to 60 g (0.705479242102239 to 2.1 oz). Palaeoryctes or its relatives may have evolved into the large carnivorous 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....

. The molars of Palaeoryctes had little function other than piercing.