Eucosmodon
Extinct family of mammals
title: "Eucosmodon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cimolodonta", "paleocene-mammals", "paleocene-genus-extinctions", "extinct-mammals-of-north-america", "prehistoric-mammal-genera", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1921"] description: "Extinct family of mammals" topic_path: "general/cimolodonta" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucosmodon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Extinct family of mammals ::
| taxon = Eucosmodon | fossil_range = Paleocene | authority = Matthew & Granger, 1921 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision =
- E. americanus
- E. molestus
- E. primus
Eucosmodon is a genus of extinct mammal from the Paleocene of North America. It is a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata within the suborder of Cimolodonta, and the family Eucosmodontidae. This genus has partly also been known as Neoplagiaulax. All known fossils of this small mammal are restricted to teeth.
Species
All known species of Eucosmodon have been found in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico (United States).
- Eucosmodon americanus is a species of which Puercan (Paleocene)-age fossils have been found. Some, but not all, of this fossil material has been reclassified as E. primus. This animal, which probably weighed something like 750 g, has been cited as a possible descendant of that species.
- Eucosmodon molestus is a species of Torrejonian (Paleocene) age. It has been cited as a possible descendant of E. americanus.
- Eucosmodon primus, also from the Puercan part of the Paleocene, have been found in the Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin. This species is based on fossils originally ascribed to E. americanus.
- A possible fourth species, Eucosmodon kuszmauli, has also been named.
References
- {{Cite web |last = Dykes |first = Trevor |title = Mesozoic Mammals; 'basal' Cimolodonta, Cimolomyidae, Boffiidae and Kogaionidae, an internet directory |publisher = Arcor |url = http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/taenio.htm |access-date = |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120716204423/http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/taenio.htm |archive-date = 2012-07-16
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Matthew | first1 = William D | last2 = Granger | first2 = Walter | title = New genera of Paleocene mammals | journal = American Museum Novitates | year = 1921 | issue = 13 | pages =1–7 | hdl = 2246/3246
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Kielan-Jaworowska | first1 = Zofia | last2 = Hurum | first2 = Jørn H | title = Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals | journal = Palaeontology | year = 2001 | volume = 44 | issue = 3 | pages = 389–429 | doi = 10.1111/1475-4983.00185| s2cid = 83592270 | url = http://doc.rero.ch/record/14775/files/PAL_E1903.pdf
- {{Cite journal | last = Fox | first = Richard C | title = Early Campanian Multituberculates (Mammalia: Allotheria) from the Upper Milk River Formation, Alberta | journal = Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences | year = 1971 | volume = 8 | issue = 8 | pages = 916–38 | doi = 10.1139/e71-082| bibcode = 1971CaJES...8..916F
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::