Epoicotheriidae

Epoicotheriidae is an extinct paraphyletic family of insectivorous placental mammals within extinct order Palaeanodonta, that lived in North America, Asia and Europe from the middle 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. They are considered among the most specialized animals that have ever evolved for rapid digging with the front claws. Some genera were remarkably convergent with modern golden moles, using a modified snout as a shovel to "swim" through shallow soil, and digging burrows through deeper or harder soils with the claws. They had poor vision, and many may have been functionally blind. Hearing was modified for low frequency sound reception, which would have allowed them to detect moving prey and the footfalls or digging activity of potential predators.

Epoicotheriidae

Nobu Tamura · 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
PalaeanodontaPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Theria
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 37 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 33.9 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 40 occurrencesEocene — about 40 of 40 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 40 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 2 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 2 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 2 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 3 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–47 Mya — about 3 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 3 occurrences46–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 2 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences51.1 Mya37 Mya56.5 Mya33.4 Mya

40 occurrences of Epoicotheriidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

40 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

13 formations

Bridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WBridger — 41.80°N, 110.70°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.51°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.65°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WWhite River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WChadron — 45.47°N, 112.62°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°W"Sheep Pass" — 39.00°N, 114.10°WGreen River — 41.20°N, 110.50°WDell Beds — 45.00°N, 112.80°WTepee Trail — 43.20°N, 108.20°WRenova — 45.00°N, 112.80°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WWutu — 36.52°N, 118.92°E

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The named rock units Epoicotheriidae 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.

Epoicotheriidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Epoicotheriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

622 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Epoicotheriidae, 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

18 references

Each of the 40 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. 6 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 Epoicotheriidae

Credit
Nobu Tamura
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Epoicotheriidae 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 itPalaeanodonta through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Simpson 1927