Palaeoryctes

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

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...

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

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...

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Palaeoryctes resembled a modern shrew

Shrew

A shrew or shrew mouse or true shrew is a small mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha.Although its external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, a shrew is not a rodent and not closely related to rodents. Shrew feet have five toes; rodent feet have four...

, 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.Although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers and make up a very large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine environments...

 teeth. It was around long, and weighed around . 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.