Extinct family of mammals
Epoicotheriidae ("strange beasts") is an extinct paraphyletic family of insectivorous placental mammals within extinct order Palaeanodonta , that lived in North America , Asia and Europe from the late Paleocene to early Oligocene .[ 2] Epoicotheriids were fossorial mammals. Late Eocene/early Oligocene genera were highly specialized animals that were convergent with the talpids , golden moles and marsupial mole in the structure of their skulls and forelimbs, and would have had a similar lifestyle as subterranean burrowers.[ 3]
Classification and phylogeny
Taxonomy
Epoicotheriidae was named by Simpson in 1927. It was assigned to the Palaeanodonta by Rose (1978)[ 4] and Carroll (1988).
Classification
Family: †Epoicotheriidae (paraphyletic family) (Simpson, 1927)
Genus: †Alocodontulum (Rose, 1978)
†Alocodontulum atopum (Rose, 1977)
Genus: †Amelotabes (Rose, 1978)
†Amelotabes simpsoni (Rose, 1978)
Genus: †Auroratherium (Tong & Wang, 1997)
†Auroratherium sinense (Tong & Wang, 1997)
Genus: †Dipassalus (Rose, 1991)
†Dipassalus oryctes (Rose, 1991)
Genus: †Tubulodon (Jepsen, 1932)
†Tubulodon taylori (Jepsen, 1932)
Subfamily: †Epoicotheriinae (paraphyletic subfamily) (Simpson, 1927)
Genus: †Pentapassalus (Gazin, 1952)
†Pentapassalus pearcei (Gazin, 1952)
†Pentapassalus woodi (Guthrie, 1967)
Genus: †Tetrapassalus (Simpson, 1959)
†Tetrapassalus mckennai (Simpson, 1959)
†Tetrapassalus proius (West, 1973)
†Tetrapassalus sp. A [AMNH 10215 ] (Rose, 1978)
†Tetrapassalus sp. B (Robinson, 1963)
(unranked): †Epoicotherium /Xenocranium clade
Genus: †Epoicotherium (Simpson, 1927)
†Epoicotherium unicum (Douglass, 1905)
Genus: †Molaetherium (Storch & Rummel, 1999)
†Molaetherium heissigi (Storch & Rummel, 1999)
Genus: †Xenocranium (Colbert, 1942)
†Xenocranium pileorivale (Colbert, 1942)
Phylogenetic tree
The phylogenetic relationships of family Epoicotheriidae are shown in the following cladogram:[ 5] [ 6] [ 7]
Ferae
†Epoicotherium /Xenocranium clade
See also
References
^ G. G. Simpson (1927.) "In North American Oligocene edentate." Annals of Carnegie Museum 17 (2): 283-299
^ a b "Classification of the family Epoicotheriidae" . Paleobiology Database . Retrieved 17 December 2021 .
^ Kenneth D. Rose, Robert J. Emry (1983) "Extraordinary fossorial adaptations in the oligocene palaeanodonts Epoicotherium and Xenocranium (Mammalia)" Journal of Morphology 175(1):33 - 56
^ Rose, Kenneth D. (1978). "A New Paleocene Epoicotheriid (Mammalia), with Comments on the Palaeanodonta". Journal of Paleontology . 52 (3): 658– 674. JSTOR 1303970 .
^ Kenneth D. Rose (2008). "Palaeanodonta and Pholidota". In Janis, Christine M; Gunnell, Gregg F; Uhen, Mark D (eds.). 9 - Palaeanodonta and Pholidota . pp. 135– 146. doi :10.1017/CBO9780511541438.010 . ISBN 9780511541438 .
^ Gaudin, Timothy (2009). "The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis" (PDF) . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . 16 (4). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Science+Business Media: 235– 305. doi :10.1007/s10914-009-9119-9 . S2CID 1773698 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2020-08-28 .
^ Kondrashov, Peter; Agadjanian, Alexandre K. (2012). "A nearly complete skeleton of Ernanodon (Mammalia, Palaeanodonta) from Mongolia: morphofunctional analysis". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 32 (5): 983– 1001. doi :10.1080/02724634.2012.694319 . ISSN 0272-4634 . S2CID 86059673 .
†Epoicotherium /Xenocranium clade