Taeniodonta
Taeniodonta ("banded teeth") is an extinct early group of cimolestid 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]
| Taeniodonta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stylinodon mirus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | †Taeniodonta Cope, 1876 |
| Families | |
|
Conoryctidae | |
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. Taeniodonts are unambiguously Eutherians, and part of Cimolesta; Cimolestes is the immediate outgroup to Taeniodonta.[3]
Taxonomy and phylogeny
From Thomas E. Williamson and Stephen L. Brusatte (2013):[4]
- Order Cimolesta
- Suborder Taeniodonta
- Alveugena
- Schowalteria
- Onychodectes
- Family Conoryctidae
- Conoryctella
- Huerfanodon
- Conoryctes
- Family Stylinodontidae
- Chungchienia
- Wortmania
- Psittacotherium
- Ectoganus
- Stylinodon
| Taeniodonta |
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Notes
- "Taeniodonta". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
- Cox et al. 1988, p. 237
- Rook & Hunter 2013
- 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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