Archaic Mammals: Taeniodonta

Taxa on This Page

1. Taeniodonta X

The taeniodonts were rooters and browsers like the tillodonts, and similarily ranged up to pig or bear size (although again most were smaller). Stylinodon, the best known genus, had short limbs in which that the forelimb and hand are larger than the hindlimb and foot. The clawed feet were probably used for digging up succulent roots and tubers. (Benton 2005 p.329). Tillodonts seem to have evolved from Cimolestids like Procerberus and Alveugena. MAK111210

Right: Evolution of the Taeniodonta, showing progressive specialisation and increase in size: left, bottom to top: Onychodectes, Conoryctes; right, bottom to top: Wortmania, Psittacotherium, Ectoganus, Stylinodon. More recent analysis places Onychodectes basal tothe Wortmania to Stylinodon lineage. From from Schoch, 1981, via Taeniodonta (in Russian). Apart from Ectoganus and Stylinodon, all genera are Paleocene, although Ectoganus appears in the late Paleocene MAK120316

Descriptions

Taeniodonta: Ectoganus, Onychodectes, Psittacotherium, Stylinodon

Range: Paleocene to Eocene of North America

Phylogeny: Placentalia/Crown Group Placentalia ::: *

Image: Stylinodon, from Schoch, 1986 (via here)