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Mesonychidae ✝

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Description

Mesonychidae (meaning "middle claws") is an extinct family of small to large-sized omnivorous-carnivorous mammals closely related to cetartiodactyls (even-toed ungulates & cetaceans) which were endemic to North America and Eurasia during the Early Paleocene to the Early Oligocene.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	3240230	https://www.gbif.org/species/3240230
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	42909	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=42909

Rank

family

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Cetacea : Mesonychidae

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Acreodi : Mesonychidae

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Synapsida	Osborn 1903
-	Therapsida
infraorder	Cynodontia
-	Epicynodontia	Hopson and Kitching 2001
infraorder	Eucynodontia	Kemp 1982
-	Probainognathia	Hopson 1990
-	Mammaliamorpha	Rowe 1988
-	Mammaliaformes	Rowe 1988
class	Mammalia	Linnaeus 1758
subclass	Tribosphenida
infraclass	Eutheria
order	Acreodi	Matthew 1909
-	Mesonychia
family	Mesonychidae	Cope 1875

Common Name

condylarth

Scientific Name

Mesonychidae

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Creodonta	stated with evidence	Cope, 1875
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Creodonta	stated without evidence	Cope, 1880
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Carnivora	stated without evidence	Peterson, 1919
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Creodonta	stated without evidence	Pilgrim, 1940
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychoidea	stated without evidence	Szalay and Gould, 1966
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Condylarthra	stated without evidence	Chow et al., 1977
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychoidea	stated without evidence	Gingerich, 1982
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychia	implied	Carroll, 1988
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychia	stated without evidence	Zhou et al., 1995
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Acreodi	stated without evidence	McKenna and Bell, 1997
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Cete	stated with evidence	Archibald, 1998
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychia	stated without evidence	Gingerich, 1998
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychia	stated with evidence	Geisler and McKenna, 2007
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychia	stated without evidence	Rose et al., 2012
Mesonychidae	family	belongs to Mesonychia	stated with evidence	Solé et al., 2018

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

66.0 - 63.3 Ma
Paleocene

Last Recorded Appearance

33.9 - 23.0 Ma
Cenozoic

Environment

terrestrial (based on Eutheria)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

carnivore

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

E. D. Cope. 1875. On the supposed Carnivora of the Eocene of the Rocky Mountains. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences (separate)

Common Name(s)

Condylarth

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesonychidae

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Hapalodectinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)
Mesonychinae ✝ subfamily	listed (PBDB)	31	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	33.9 Ma Oligocene
Ankalagon ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	63.3 Ma Paleocene	63.3 Ma Paleocene
Dissacus ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	93	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	55.8 Ma Eocene
Dissacusium ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Guilestes ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	37.2 Ma Eocene	37.2 Ma Eocene
Harpagolestes ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	25	50.3 Ma Eocene	37.2 Ma Eocene
Hessolestes ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	4	46.2 Ma Eocene	40.4 Ma Eocene
Honanodon ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	48.6 Ma Eocene	48.6 Ma Eocene
Hukoutherium ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous
Jiangxia ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	58.7 Ma Paleocene	58.7 Ma Paleocene
Lohoodon ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Mesonyx ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	16	55.8 Ma Eocene	46.2 Ma Eocene
Metahapalodectes ✝ genus	doubtful (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	1	48.6 Ma Eocene	48.6 Ma Eocene
Mongolestes ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	48.6 Ma Eocene	33.9 Ma Oligocene
Mongolonyx ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	55.8 Ma Eocene	55.8 Ma Eocene
Olsenia ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	48.6 Ma Eocene	48.6 Ma Eocene
Pachyaena ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	75	61.7 Ma Paleocene	48.6 Ma Eocene
Plagiocristodon ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Sinonyx ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	2	61.7 Ma Paleocene	58.7 Ma Paleocene
Synoplotherium ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)
Yantanglestes ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	3	66.0 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous	58.7 Ma Paleocene

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1875	Mesonychidae Cope p. 3
1880	Mesonychidae Cope
1889	Mesonychidae Cope p. 876
1891	Mesonychidae Flower and Lydekker p. 91
1902	Mesonychidae Hay p. 749
1919	Mesonychidae Peterson p. 41
1940	Mesonychidae Pilgrim p. 148
1958	Mesonychidae Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg p. 11
1966	Mesonychidae Szalay and Gould p. 134
1977	Mesonychidae Chow et al.
1979	Mesonychidae Zhang et al.

Year	Name and Author
1982	Mesonychidae Gingerich p. 708
1988	Mesonychidae Carroll
1995	Mesonychidae Zhou et al. p. 388
1997	Mesonychidae McKenna and Bell p. 366
1998	Mesonychidae Archibald p. 299
1998	Mesonychidae Gingerich p. 427 figs. FIgure 1
2001	Mesonychidae Thewissen et al. p. suppl.
2007	Mesonychidae Geisler and McKenna p. 190
2009	Mesonychidae Spaulding et al.
2012	Mesonychidae Rose et al.
2018	Mesonychidae Solé et al.

References

Cope E. D. On the supposed Carnivora of the Eocene of the Rocky Mountains, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences (separate), 1-4

Cope E. D. On the genera of the Creodonta, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 19, 76-82

Cope E. D. Synopsis of the families of Vertebrata, The American Naturalist 23, 1-29

Hay O. P. (1902) , Bibliography and Catalogue of the Fossil Vertebrata of North America. Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey 179, 1-868

Peterson O. A. (1919) Report Upon the Material Discovered in the Upper Eocene of the Uinta Basin by Earl Douglas in the Years 1908-1909, and by O. A. Peterson in 1912, Annals of Carnegie Museum 12 2, 40-168

Pilgrim G.E. (1940) Middle Eocene Mammals from North-west India, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Series B 110, 127-152

Dehm R., Oettingen-Spielberg T. (1958) Paläontologische und geologische Untersuchungen im Tertiär von Pakistan, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathewmatisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 91, 1-54

Szalay F. S., Gould S. J. (1966) Asiatic Mesonychidae (Mammalia, Condylarthra), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 132 2, 129-173

Chow M., Zhang Y., et al (1977) Paleocene mammalian fauna from the Nanxiong Basin, Guangdong Province, Paleontologica Sinica, new series C 20

Zhang Y., Zheng J., et al (1979) Several species of Condylarthra from the Paleocene of Jiangxi, Mesozoic and Cenozoic Red Beds of South China, 382-386

Gingerich P. D. (1982) Second Species of Wyolestes (Condylarthra, Mesonychia) from the Early Eocene of Western North America, Journal of Mammalogy 63 4

Carroll R. L. (1988) , Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, 1-698

Zhou X., Zhai R., et al (1995) Skull of a new mesonychid (Mammalia, Mesonychia) from the late Paleocene of China, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15 2, 387-400

McKenna M. C., Bell S. K. (1997) , Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level, 1-640

Archibald J. D. (1998) Archaic ungulates ("Condylarthra"), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America 1, 292-331

Gingerich P. D. (1998) Paleobiological perspectives on Mesonychia, Archaeoceti, and the origin of whales, Emergence of Whales: Evolutionary Patterns in the Origin of Cetacea, 423-449

Thewissen J. G. M, Williams E. M., et al (2001) Skeletons of terrestrial cetaceans and the relationship of whales to artiodactyls, Nature 413, 277-281

Geisler J. H., McKenna M. C. (2007) A new species of mesonychian mammal from the lower Eocene of Mongolia and its phylogenetic relationships, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52 1, 189-212

Spaulding M., O'Leary M. A., et al (2009) Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla) among mammals: Increased taxon sampling alters interpretations of key fossils and character evolution, PloS One 4 9, e7062

Rose K. D., Chew A. E., et al (2012) Earliest Eocene mammalian fauna from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum at Sand Creek Divide, southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology 36, 1-122

Solé F., Godinot M., et al (2018) The European Mesonychid Mammals: Phylogeny, Ecology, Biogeography, and Biochronology, Journal of Mammalian Evolution 25, 339-379 doi:10.1007/s10914-016-9371-8

Benton, M.J. (ed). (1993). The Fossil Record 2. Chapman & Hall, London, 845 pp. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

SN2000: Brands, S. J. (compiler) 1989-2005. Systema Naturae 2000. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006 version). Available online at http://sn2000.taxonomy.nl/. - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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