Taeniodonta
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Eocene[1]
Stylinodon mirus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Placentalia
Order: †Taeniodonta
Cope, 1876
Families
[see classification]

Taeniodonta ("banded teeth") is an extinct early group of eutherian mammals known from the Maastrichtian to the Eocene. Taeniodonts evolved quickly into highly specialized digging animals, and varied greatly in size, from rat-sized to species as large as a bear. Later species developed prominent front teeth and huge claws for digging and rooting. Some genera, like Stylinodon, had ever-growing teeth.[2]

Two families belong to this group, Stylinodontidae and Conoryctidae. They were endemic to North America. The scarcity of taeniodont fossils can be explained by the fact that these animals probably lived in dry or arid climates unconductive to fossilization. Genera Ambilestes, Procerberus and Alveugena are the immediate outgroup to Taeniodonta.[3]

According to 2022 studies of Bertrand, O. C. and Sarah L. Shelley, taeniodonts are identified to be a basal placental mammal.[4][5]

Taxonomy and phylogeny

From Thomas E. Williamson and Stephen L. Brusatte (2013):[6]

Alveugena

Taeniodonta

Schowalteria

Onychodectes

Conoryctidae

Conoryctella

Huerfanodon

Conoryctes

Stylinodontidae

Wortmania

Psittacotherium

Ectoganus

Stylinodon

Notes

  1. ↑ "Taeniodonta". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  2. ↑ Cox et al. 1988, p. 237
  3. ↑ Rook & Hunter 2013
  4. ↑ Bertrand, O. C.; Shelley, S. L.; Williamson, T. E.; Wible, J. R.; Chester, S. G. B.; Flynn, J. J.; Holbrook, L. T.; Lyson, T. R.; Meng, J.; Miller, I. M.; Püschel, H. P.; Smith, T.; Spaulding, M.; Tseng, Z. J.; Brusatte, S. L. (2022). "Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction". Science. 376 (6588): 80–85. Bibcode:2022Sci...376...80B. doi:10.1126/science.abl5584. hdl:20.500.11820/d7fb8c6e-886e-4c1d-9977-0cd6406fda20.
  5. ↑ Sarah L. Shelley (2022.) "The phylogeny of Paleocene mammals and the evolution of Placentalia", in "The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 82nd annual meeting"
  6. ↑ Williamson, T. E.; Brusatte, S. L. (2013). Viriot, Laurent (ed.). "New Specimens of the Rare Taeniodont Wortmania (Mammalia: Eutheria) from the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Comments on the Phylogeny and Functional Morphology of "Archaic" Mammals". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e75886. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...875886W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075886. PMC 3786969. PMID 24098738.

References

  • Cox, Barry; Savage, R.J.G.; Gardiner, Brian; Dixon, Dougal (1988). "Early rooters and browsers". Macmillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. Macmillan London Limited. ISBN 978-0-333-48699-3.
  • McKenna, Malcolm C.; Bell, Susan K. (1997). Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231110136. OCLC 37345734.
  • Rook, D.L.; Hunter, J.P. (2013). "Rooting Around the Eutherian Family Tree: the Origin and Relations of the Taeniodonta". Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 21: 1–17. doi:10.1007/s10914-013-9230-9. S2CID 17074668.


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