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Stylinodontidae

Taeniodonta
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - Eocene, 66–37 Ma
Stylinodon mirus.jpg
Stylinodon mirus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cimolesta
Suborder: Taeniodonta
Families

Conoryctidae
Stylinodontidae


Conoryctidae
Stylinodontidae

Taeniodonta ("banded teeth") is an extinct early group of cimolestid mammals known from the Palaeocene to the Eocene. Taeniodonts evolved quickly into highly specialized digging animals, and varied greatly in size, from rat-sized to species as large as a bear. Later species developed prominent front teeth and huge claws for digging and rooting. Some genera, like Stylinodon, had ever-growing teeth.

Two families belong to this group, Stylinodontidae and Conoryctidae. They were endemic to North America. The scarcity of taeniodont fossils can be explained by the fact that these animals probably lived in dry or arid climates unconductive to fossilization. Taeniodonts are unambiguously non-placental eutherians, and part of Cimolesta; Cimolestes is the immediate outgroup to Taeniodonta.

From Thomas E. Williamson and Stephen L. Brusatte (2013):

Alveugena

Schowalteria

Onychodectes

Conoryctella

Huerfanodon

Conoryctes

Wortmania

Psittacotherium

Ectoganus

Stylinodon



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