Taeniolabidoidea Temporal range: Late Cretaceous-
Paleocene
| |
---|---|
Taeniolabis taoensis life reconstruction. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | † Multituberculata |
Suborder: | † Cimolodonta |
Superfamily: | †
Taeniolabidoidea Sloan and van Valen, 1965 |
Families and genera | |
Taeniolabidoidea is a group of extinct mammals known whose fossils can be found in North America and Asia. They were the largest members of the extinct order Multituberculata, as well as the largest non-therian mammals. [ citation needed] Lambdopsalis even provides direct fossil evidence of mammalian fur in a fairly good state of preservation for a 60-million-year-old animal. [ citation needed]Some of these animals were large for their time; Taeniolabis taoensis is the largest known multituberculate and though smaller, Yubaatar is the largest known Mesozoic Asian multituberculate. [2] T. taoensis averaged a body mass of 22.7 kilograms (50 lb). [3]
The group was initially established as a
suborder, before being assigned the rank of a
superfamily by McKenna and Bell in 1997.
[4]
[5] Two families are recognised: the primarily North American Taeniolabididae, composed of
Taeniolabis and
Kimbetopsalis, and the exclusively Asian
Lambdopsalidae, composed of
Lambdopsalis,
Sphenopsalis and
Prionessus, with
Valenopsalis being a basal form outside of either clade.
[6] Some of the fossils are well-preserved. Though the possible taeniolabidoid
Bubodens is known from the
Lancian
Late Cretaceous deposits of
South Dakota,
[7] and
Yubaatar is known from Late Cretaceous deposits in the
Henan Province,
[8] the clade is otherwise only clearly represented in
Paleocene
strata.
[9]
Members of this group have dental formulas of 2.0.1.21.0.1.2 or 2.0.2.21.0.1.2. Russell notes that the taeniolabidoids had ever-growing, self-sharpening incisors, much like modern rodents, and the premolars that are usually characteristic of multituberculates are sometimes lost in this family. [10] Derived characteristics of the taxon (apomorphies) include: "snout short and wide with anterior part of zygomatic arches directed transversely, resulting in a square-like shape of the skull (shared with Kogaionidae); frontals small, pointed posteriorly, almost or completely excluded from the orbital rim". [11]
Taeniolabidoidea Temporal range: Late Cretaceous-
Paleocene
| |
---|---|
Taeniolabis taoensis life reconstruction. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | † Multituberculata |
Suborder: | † Cimolodonta |
Superfamily: | †
Taeniolabidoidea Sloan and van Valen, 1965 |
Families and genera | |
Taeniolabidoidea is a group of extinct mammals known whose fossils can be found in North America and Asia. They were the largest members of the extinct order Multituberculata, as well as the largest non-therian mammals. [ citation needed] Lambdopsalis even provides direct fossil evidence of mammalian fur in a fairly good state of preservation for a 60-million-year-old animal. [ citation needed]Some of these animals were large for their time; Taeniolabis taoensis is the largest known multituberculate and though smaller, Yubaatar is the largest known Mesozoic Asian multituberculate. [2] T. taoensis averaged a body mass of 22.7 kilograms (50 lb). [3]
The group was initially established as a
suborder, before being assigned the rank of a
superfamily by McKenna and Bell in 1997.
[4]
[5] Two families are recognised: the primarily North American Taeniolabididae, composed of
Taeniolabis and
Kimbetopsalis, and the exclusively Asian
Lambdopsalidae, composed of
Lambdopsalis,
Sphenopsalis and
Prionessus, with
Valenopsalis being a basal form outside of either clade.
[6] Some of the fossils are well-preserved. Though the possible taeniolabidoid
Bubodens is known from the
Lancian
Late Cretaceous deposits of
South Dakota,
[7] and
Yubaatar is known from Late Cretaceous deposits in the
Henan Province,
[8] the clade is otherwise only clearly represented in
Paleocene
strata.
[9]
Members of this group have dental formulas of 2.0.1.21.0.1.2 or 2.0.2.21.0.1.2. Russell notes that the taeniolabidoids had ever-growing, self-sharpening incisors, much like modern rodents, and the premolars that are usually characteristic of multituberculates are sometimes lost in this family. [10] Derived characteristics of the taxon (apomorphies) include: "snout short and wide with anterior part of zygomatic arches directed transversely, resulting in a square-like shape of the skull (shared with Kogaionidae); frontals small, pointed posteriorly, almost or completely excluded from the orbital rim". [11]