Skip to content
Category

Condylarths

page 1
Condylarth
thumb|Arctocyon, a [[plantigrade ungulate, was once classified as a condylarth.]]
Arctocyonidae
Arctocyonidae (from Ancient Greek ἄρκτος (árktos), meaning "bear", and κύων (kúon), meaning "dog", and thus, "bear-dog") is an extinct, possibly polyphyletic family of placental mammals which lived from the late Cretaceous to the early Eocene. They were initially regarded as creodonts, though have since been reassigned to an order of their own, the Arctocyonia. Some have suggested that arctocyonids are ancestral to modern-day artiodactyls, or that they form a sister group. However, more recent phylogenetic analyses suggest that arctocyonids may represent an artificial grouping of extinct ungul
Chriacus
Chriacus is an extinct genus of placental mammals that lived in what is now North America from the Paleocene and early Eocene epochs. In life, members of the genus may have looked something like a kinkajou or binturong, though they were not closely related to any living mammal. Like many early Cenozoic mammals, its relationships are uncertain, with possible affinities to ungulates or Ferae (carnivorans and their relatives).
Arctocyon
Arctocyon (from Ancient Greek ἄρκτος (árktos), meaning "bear", and κύων (kúon), meaning "dog", and thus, "bear-dog") is an extinct genus of large placental mammals, part of the possibly polyphyletic family Arctocyonidae. The type species is A. primaevus, though up to five other species may be known. Fossils of Arctocyon have been found in Europe and North America. Arctocyon was originally named as a subgenus of the bear-dog Amphicyon, though was subsequently found to belong to a genus and family of its own. The relationship between arctocyonids and other placentals is unclear, with early class
Phenacodontidae
Phenacodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals traditionally placed in the "wastebasket taxon" Condylarthra, which may instead represent early-stage perissodactyls. They lived from the late early Paleocene to early middle Eocene (about 60–50 million years ago) and their fossil remains have been found in North America and Europe. The only unequivocal Asian phenacodontid is Lophocion asiaticus.
Periptychidae
Periptychidae is a family of Cretaceous–Paleocene placental mammals, known definitively only from North America. The family is part of a radiation of early herbivorous and omnivorous mammals formerly classified in the extinct order "Condylarthra", which may be related to some or all living ungulates (hoofed mammals). Periptychids are distinguished from other "condylarths" by their teeth, which have swollen premolars and unusual vertical enamel ridges. The family includes both large and small genera, with the larger forms having robust skeletons. Known skeletons of periptychids suggest generali
Didolodontidae
Didolodontidae is a possibly paraphyletic family of "condylarth" mammals known from the Paleogene of South America, with most specimens known from Argentina. They were generally small-medium in body size, and had a bunodont dentition. A close relationship with litopterns has been suggested by some studies. They range in age from the early Paleocene (Selandian/Peligran) to late Eocene (Priabonian/Mustersan). The attribution of Salladolodus deuterotheroides from the Late Oligocene of Bolivia to the family is doubtful.
Hyopsodontidae
Hyopsodontidae is an extinct family of primitive mammals, initially assigned to the order Condylarthra, living from the Paleocene to the Eocene in North America and Eurasia. Condylarthra is now thought to be a wastebasket taxon; hyopsodontids have occasionally been speculated to be related to Afrotheria, but the most recent consensus is that they are related to Perissodactyla. Analysis of the inner ear shows shared characteristics with the Equoidea (horses and paleotheres); they may be a basal ungulate group near to perissodactyls.