Taeniolabididae Explained

Taeniolabididae is one of the two multituberculate clades within Taeniolabidoidea. Originally basically synonymous with Taeniolabidoidea, it has more recently been found to be a specific clade including Kimbetopsalis, Taeniolabis and some former members of the Catopsalis wastebasket taxon, as opposed to Lambdopsalidae, which includes most other genera outside of Valenopsalis and possibly Bubodens, both of which more basal taxa.^[1]

Unlike the longer spanning lambdopsalids, taeniolabibids remained exclusive to the Puercan stage of North America and did not live longer nor spread into Asia. They were the largest of multituberculates, with Taeniolabis taoensis the largestat approximately 22.7kg (50lb) body mass.^{[2] [3]}

References

• Krause . David W. . Hoffmann . Simone . Lyson . Tyler R. . Dougan . Lindsay G. . Petermann . Holger . Tecza . Adrienne . Chester . Stephen G. B. . Miller . Ian M. . 13 December 2021 . New Skull Material of Taeniolabis taoensis (Multituberculata, Taeniolabididae) from the Early Paleocene (Danian) of the Denver Basin, Colorado . Journal of Mammalian Evolution . 28 . 4 . 1083–1143 . 10.1007/s10914-021-09584-3. 34924738 . 8667543 .
• Williamson . Thomas E. . Brusatte . Stephen L. . Stephen L. Brusatte . Secord . Ross . Shelley . Sarah . 2015 . A new taeniolabidoid multituberculate (Mammalia) from the middle Puercan of the Nacimiento Formation, New Mexico, and a revision of taeniolabidoid systematics and phylogeny . . 10.1111/zoj.12336.
• Wilson . Gregory P. . Evans . Alistair R.. Corfe. Ian J.. Smits. Peter D.. Fortelius. Mikael. Jernvall. Jukka. Adaptive radiation of multituberculate mammals before the extinction of dinosaurs. 2012. Nature. 483. 457-460. 10.1038/nature10880.

Notes and References

1. Williamson et al, 2015
2. Krause et al 2021, p 1085 with lengthy discussion about estimates of size
3. Wilson et al, 2012 Supplemental Table 5