Yangtanglestes
Encyclopedia
Yangtanglestes conexus is a weasel
-like Chinese mesonychid
with slender jaws that first appeared during the Early Paleocene
and was found throughout Asia
. It is the oldest known mesonychid. It went extinct during the Nongshanian division of the Late Paleocene, and lived sympatrically with its descendant genera, including Dissacus
, Sinonyx
and Jiangxia
.
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
-like Chinese mesonychid
Mesonychid
Mesonychia are an extinct order of medium to large-sized carnivorous mammals that were closely related to artiodactyls and to cetaceans...
with slender jaws that first appeared during the Early Paleocene
Paleocene
The Paleocene or Palaeocene, the "early recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era...
and was found throughout Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It is the oldest known mesonychid. It went extinct during the Nongshanian division of the Late Paleocene, and lived sympatrically with its descendant genera, including Dissacus
Dissacus
Dissacus is an extinct carnivorous jackal to coyote-sized mammal of the family Mesonychidae, endemic to Asia and North America during the Paleocene through Eocene epochs 65—50.3 mya, existing for approximately ....
, Sinonyx
Sinonyx
Sinonyx was a wolf-like ungulate Mesonychid mammal from the late Paleocene of China that lived about 56 million years ago. It was an early primitive form of mesonychid, which some experts regard as a distinctive group of carnivorous condylarths, which gave rise to artiodactyls. Sinonyx was...
and Jiangxia
Jiangxia chaotoensis
Jiangxia chaotoensis is a Chinese mesonychid from the Nongshanian division of the Upper Paleocene. It may be related to the genera Pachyaena and Hessolestes.J. chaotoensis was named after the province of Jiangxi, where it was found....
.