Pantodonta

Pantodonta
Temporal range: Paleocene - Eocene, 65–34 Ma
Barylambda
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Clade: Paraxonia
Order: †Pantodonta
Cope 1873
Subgroups

Pantodonta is an extinct suborder (or, according to some, an order) of eutherian mammals. These herbivorous mammals were one of the first groups of large mammals to evolve (around 66 million years ago) after the end of the Cretaceous. The last pantodonts died out at the end of the Eocene (around 34 million years ago).

Pantodonta include some of the largest mammals of their time, but were a diversified group, with some primitive members weighing less than 10 kg (22 lb) and the largest more than 500 kg (1,100 lb).[1]

The earliest and most primitive pantodonts, Bemalambda (with a 20 cm (7.9 in) skull probably the size of a dog) and Hypsilolambda, appear in the early Paleocene Shanghuan Formation in China. All more derived families are collectively classified as Eupantodonta. The pantodonts appear in North America in the middle Paleocene, where Coryphodon survived into the middle Eocene. Pantodont teeth have been found in South America (Alcidedorbignya) and Antarctica,[2] and footprints in a coal mine on Svalbard.[3]

  1. ^ Rose 2006, p. 114
  2. ^ Kemp 2005, pp. 238–40
  3. ^ "Fossil Arctic animal tracks point to climate risks". Reuters. April 25, 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2013.