Epoicotheriidae Explained

Epoicotheriidae ("strange beasts") is an extinct paraphyletic family of insectivorous placental mammals within extinct order Palaeanodonta, that lived in North America, Asia and Europe from the late Paleocene to early Oligocene. Epoicotheriids were fossorial mammals. Late Eocene/early Oligocene genera were highly specialized animals that were convergent with the talpids, golden moles and marsupial mole in the structure of their skulls and forelimbs, and would have had a similar lifestyle as subterranean burrowers.^[1]

Classification and phylogeny

Taxonomy

Epoicotheriidae was named by Simpson in 1927. It was assigned to the Palaeanodonta by Rose (1978)^[2] and Carroll (1988).

Classification

• Family: †Epoicotheriidae ^{(paraphyletic family)} (Simpson, 1927)
  • Genus: †Alocodontulum (Rose, 1978)
    • †Alocodontulum atopum (Rose, 1977)
  • Genus: †Amelotabes (Rose, 1978)
    • †Amelotabes simpsoni (Rose, 1978)
  • Genus: †Auroratherium (Tong & Wang, 1997)
    • †Auroratherium sinense (Tong & Wang, 1997)
  • Genus: †Dipassalus (Rose, 1991)
    • †Dipassalus oryctes (Rose, 1991)
  • Genus: †Tubulodon (Jepsen, 1932)
    • †Tubulodon taylori (Jepsen, 1932)
  • Subfamily: †Epoicotheriinae ^{(paraphyletic subfamily)} (Simpson, 1927)
    • Genus: †Pentapassalus (Gazin, 1952)
      • †Pentapassalus pearcei (Gazin, 1952)
      • †Pentapassalus woodi (Guthrie, 1967)
    • Genus: †Tetrapassalus (Simpson, 1959)
      • †Tetrapassalus mckennai (Simpson, 1959)
      • †Tetrapassalus proius (West, 1973)
      • †Tetrapassalus sp. A [''AMNH 10215''] (Rose, 1978)
      • †Tetrapassalus sp. B (Robinson, 1963)
    • (unranked): †Epoicotherium/Xenocranium clade
      • Genus: †Epoicotherium (Simpson, 1927)
        • †Epoicotherium unicum (Douglass, 1905)
      • Genus: †Molaetherium (Storch & Rummel, 1999)
        • †Molaetherium heissigi (Storch & Rummel, 1999)
      • Genus: †Xenocranium (Colbert, 1942)
        • †Xenocranium pileorivale (Colbert, 1942)

Phylogenetic tree

The phylogenetic relationships of family Epoicotheriidae are shown in the following cladogram:^{[3] [4] [5]}

See also

• Mammal classification
• Palaeanodonta

Notes and References

1. Kenneth D. Rose, Robert J. Emry (1983) "Extraordinary fossorial adaptations in the oligocene palaeanodonts Epoicotherium and Xenocranium (Mammalia)" Journal of Morphology 175(1):33 - 56
2. Rose . Kenneth D. . A New Paleocene Epoicotheriid (Mammalia), with Comments on the Palaeanodonta . Journal of Paleontology . 1978 . 52 . 3 . 658–674 . 1303970.
3. Book: Kenneth D. Rose . Christine M . Janis . Gregg F . Gunnell . Mark D . Uhen . 9 - Palaeanodonta and Pholidota . Palaeanodonta and Pholidota . 2008 . 135–146 . 10.1017/CBO9780511541438.010 . 9780511541438.
4. Gaudin . Timothy . 2009 . The Phylogeny of Living and Extinct Pangolins (Mammalia, Pholidota) and Associated Taxa: A Morphology Based Analysis . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . Springer Science+Business Media . Heidelberg, Germany . 16 . 4 . 235–305 . 10.1007/s10914-009-9119-9 . 1773698 . 2020-08-28 . 2015-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150925134257/http://web2.utc.edu/~gvv824/Gaudin%20et%20al%202009.pdf . dead .
5. Kondrashov . Peter . Agadjanian . Alexandre K. . A nearly complete skeleton of Ernanodon (Mammalia, Palaeanodonta) from Mongolia: morphofunctional analysis . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 32 . 5 . 2012 . 0272-4634 . 10.1080/02724634.2012.694319 . 983–1001. 86059673.