Zhelestidae

Zhelestidae is a lineage of extinct eutherian mammals. Occurring in the Late Cretaceous from the Turonian to the Maastrichtian, they were an extremely successful group, with representatives present in Europe, Asia, India (and subsequently in Madagascar), Africa and North America, ostensibly rendering them a cosmopolitan clade. They were specialised towards an herbivorous lifestyle and were in fact initially considered stem-ungulates, but the presence of epipubics and "archaic" dental characters render them as non-placental eutherians.

==Range== The earliest zhelestid remains occur in the Cenomanian of Central Asia. By the Campanian, however, they are present in Europe and North America, and by the Maastrichtian in India and in Madagascar (UA 8699). In Europe, then an island continent, taxa usually accepted to be zhelestids are the most common Late Cretaceous mammal remains, aside from Hațeg Island where kogaionid multituberculates are more common instead, though there is a single possible zhelestid tooth there as well.