Carpodaptes

Carpodaptes Temporal range: Late Paleocene-earliest Eocene (Clarkforkian-Wasatchian) ~56.8–50.3 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Plesiadapiformes
Family:	†Carpolestidae
Genus:	†Carpodaptes Matthew & Granger, 1921

Carpodaptes ("fruit eater" from Ancient Greek κᾰρπός (karpós), "fruit, grain" + δᾰ́πτης (dáptēs), "eater, consumer")^[1] was a genus that encompassed small, insectivorous animals that roamed the Earth during the Late Paleocene. Specifically, Carpodaptes can be found between the Tiffanian and Clarkforkian periods of North America.^[2] Although little evidence, this genus may have made it through to the early Eocene. They are known primarily from collections of jaw and teeth fragments in North America, mainly in southwestern Canada and northwestern America.^[3] Carpodaptes are estimated to have weighed approximately 53-96 grams which made them a little bigger than a mouse. However small, Carpodaptes was a placental mammal within the order Plesiadapiformes that appeared to have a high fiber diet. This insect-eating mammal may have been one of the first to evolve fingernails in place of claws. This may have helped them pick insects, nuts, and seeds more easily off the ground than with paws or claws. Carpodaptes was thought to only exist in North America but recent discoveries of dentition fragments have been found in China.^[4]