Cimolestes

Cimolestes is a genus of early eutherians with a full complement of teeth adapted for eating insects and other small animals. Paleontologists have disagreed on its relationship to other mammals, in part because quite different animals were assigned to the genus, making Cimolestes a grade taxon of animals with similar features rather than a genus of closely related ones. Fossils have been found in North America, South America, Europe and Africa. Cimolestes first appeared during the Late Cretaceous of North America. According to some paleontologists, Cimolestes died out at the start of the Paleocene, while others report the genus from the early Eocene.

Cimolestes

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CimolestidaePBDB
Diet
carnivore, insectivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Cimolestidae

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 59.24 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 56 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 33 of 43 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 10 of 43 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 43 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences76–76 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 2 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 4 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 4 occurrences70–69 Mya — about 4 occurrences69–68 Mya — about 4 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 4 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 3 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 2 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences58–57 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences72.2 Mya59.24 Mya84.2 Mya55.4 Mya

43 occurrences of Cimolestes on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

43 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

14 formations

Lance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 43.80°N, 104.62°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WFrenchman — 49.50°N, 109.20°WFrenchman — 49.50°N, 109.10°WFerris — 41.94°N, 106.88°WBear — 46.20°N, 109.90°WJbel Guersif — 31.61°N, 5.66°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WOldman — 50.78°N, 110.50°WKirtland — 36.30°N, 108.20°WSt. Mary River — 49.91°N, 112.99°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WForemost — 49.13°N, 110.87°WSanta Lucía — 18.03°S, 65.58°WHainin — 50.43°N, 3.75°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cimolestes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cimolestes and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Cimolestes and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

490 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Cimolestes, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

20 references

Each of the 43 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 8 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Cimolestes

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cimolestes was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCimolestidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1889