Catopsalis

Catopsalis
Temporal range: Paleocene, 66–63 Ma
Catopsalis waddleae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Multituberculata
Superfamily: Taeniolabidoidea
Genus: Catopsalis
Cope, 1884
Species
  • C. alexanderi Middleton, 1982
  • C. calgariensis Russell, 1926
  • C. fissidens Cope, 1884
  • C. foliatus Cope, 1882 (type)
  • C. kakwa Scott, Weil and Theodor, 2018
  • C. waddleae Buckley, 1995

Catopsalis is a genus of extinct mammal from the Paleocene of North America. This animal was a relatively large member of the extinct order of Multituberculata. Most multituberculates were much smaller.

At one time, the genus was also formally reported from the upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. However, that material was subsequently referred to the genera of Djadochtatherium and Catopsbaatar. Catopsalis is within the suborder of Cimolodonta and a member of the superfamily Taeniolabidoidea.

Recent research suggests that "Catopsalis" is actually a paraphyletic assemblage, and one species, C. joyneri, has been moved to its own genus, Valenopsalis.[1]

  1. ^ Thomas E. Williamson, Stephen L. Brusatte, Ross Secord, Sarah Shelley, A new taeniolabidoid multituberculate (Mammalia) from the middle Puercan of the Nacimiento Formation, New Mexico, and a revision of taeniolabidoid systematics and phylogeny, 5 OCT 2015, doi:10.1111/zoj.12336