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Dracontolestes ✝

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Description

Dracontolestes are a genus of extinct insectivorous mammals in the family Mixodectidae. It is known only from a fragment of fossilized mandible found in Dragon Canyon, Utah.

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

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	4830864	https://www.gbif.org/species/4830864
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	40332	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=40332

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Dermoptera : Mixodectidae : Dracontolestes

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Insectivora : Mixodectidae : Dracontolestes

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	Insectivora	Bowdich 1821
superfamily	Mixodectoidea	Simpson 1945
family	Mixodectidae	Cope 1883
genus	Dracontolestes	Gazin 1941

Scientific Name

Dracontolestes Gazin, 1941

Name Published In

Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 91

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Dracontolestes	genus	belongs to Mixodectidae	stated without evidence	Gazin, 1941
Dracontolestes	genus	belongs to Mixodectidae	stated with evidence	Gunnell, 1989
Dracontolestes	genus	belongs to Mixodectidae	implied	McKenna and Bell, 1997

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

63.3 - 61.7 Ma
Paleocene

Last Recorded Appearance

63.3 - 61.7 Ma
Paleocene

Environment

terrestrial (based on Eutheria)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Osteichthyes)

Diet

insectivore (based on Insectivora)

Taphonomy

phosphatic (based on Vertebrata)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

J. Alroy. 2002. Synonymies and reidentifications of North American fossil mammals.

Wikipedia

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

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Dracontolestes aphantus ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	63.3 Ma Paleocene	63.3 Ma Paleocene

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1941	Dracontolestes Gazin
1967	Dracontolestes Van Valen
1989	Dracontolestes Gunnell p. 56
1997	Dracontolestes McKenna and Bell

References

Alroy J. (2002) Synonymies and reidentifications of North American fossil mammals

Van Valen L. (1967) New Paleocene insectivores and insectivore classification, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 135 5, 217-284

Gunnell G. F. (1989) Evolutionary History of Microsyopoidea (Mammalia, ?Primates) and the Relationship Between Plesiadapiformes and Primates, University of Michigan Papers on Paleontology 27, 1-157

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

GBIF/Paleo Database - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

as per family - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 91 - 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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