Cimolesta (from Greek, literally, "White Clay Thieves") is an extinct
orderIn 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
mammalMammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.Mammals are divided into three main...
s. A few experts place the
pangolinA 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
familyIn 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...
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
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", 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 on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
to the early
MioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present . 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...
, when the last ptolemaiid,
Kelba, disappeared in Eastern
AfricaAfrica 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. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
.
It is part of the
cohortCohort may refer to:* Cohort * Cohort , a group of proximate data and/or operations* Cohort , a group of subjects with a common defining characteristic — typically age group...
FeraeFerae 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.
Cimolesta (from Greek, literally, "White Clay Thieves") is an extinct
orderIn 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
mammalMammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.Mammals are divided into three main...
s. A few experts place the
pangolinA 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
familyIn 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...
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
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", 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 on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
to the early
MioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present . 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...
, when the last ptolemaiid,
Kelba, disappeared in Eastern
AfricaAfrica 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. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
.
It is part of the
cohortCohort may refer to:* Cohort * Cohort , a group of proximate data and/or operations* Cohort , a group of subjects with a common defining characteristic — typically age group...
FeraeFerae 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 clade between that of order and superorder): the herbivorous (and sometimes hooved)
PantodontaThe 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
CimolestesCimolestes is a genus of early eutherians. The species are found primarily in North America, where they first appeared during the Late Cretaceous, and died out during the Paleocene....
, a possible ancestor of the
CarnivoraThe diverse order Carnivora 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
CreodontaThe 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
DinocerataDinocerata 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. Cimolestans had a wide variety of body shapes, dentition and livestyles. The majority of them bore superficial resemblances to
rodentRodentia 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,
weaselWeasels are mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family.Originally, the name "weasel" was applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the Least Weasel...
s or opossums.
Taxonomy
- Family Ernanodontidae?
- Family Ptolemaiidae?
- Family Palaeoryctidae
- Genus Palaeoryctes
Palaeoryctes 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...
- Suborder Taeniodonta
- Family Stylinodontidae
- Genus Schochia
Schochia 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 Psittacotherium
Psittacotherium 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 Stylinodon
Stylinodon 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....
- Suborder Didelphodonta
- Family Cimolestidae
- Genus Maelestes
- Genus Cimolestes
Cimolestes is a genus of early eutherians. The species are found primarily in North America, where they first appeared during the Late Cretaceous, and died out during the Paleocene....
- Suborder Pantolesta
- Family Paroxyclaenidae
- Genus Kopidodon
Kopidodon 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...
- Family Pantolestidae
- Genus Bisonalveus
- Genus Buxolestes
- Suborder Apatotheria
- Family Apatemyidae
- Genus Heterohyus
Heterohyus 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...
- Suborder 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...
- Family Barylambdidae
- Genus Barylambda
Barylambda 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...
- Family Coryphodontidae
- Genus Coryphodon
Coryphodon 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 Hypercoryphodon
Hypercoryphodon was a genus of rhinoceros-sized pantodont native to Middle Eocene Mongolia, and was very similar to its ancestor, Coryphodon.This beast was a contemporary of the aberrant dinoceratid, Gobiatherium....
- Family Pantolambdidae
- Genus Pantolambda
Pantolambda is an extinct genus of Paleocene pantodont mammal. Pantolambda is classified in the order Pantodonta. Pantolambda lived during the middle Paleocene. Although it resembled a cat in its overall appearance, the creature ate plants and had hoof-like clawed feet. There were five toes on...
- Family Titanoideidae
- Genus Titanoides
Titanoides is an extinct genus of pantodont mammal. It was about 5 feet 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...
- Suborder Tillodontia
Tillodontia is an extinct order of mammals that may be related to the pantodonts. They were widespread across North America and Eurasia.-Description:They had rodentlike incisors, clawed feet and blunt, cusped teeth...
- Family Esthonychidae
- Genus Trogosus
Trogosus 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....