Eucosmodontidae

Eucosmodontidae is a poorly preserved family of fossil mammals within the extinct order Multituberculata. Representatives are known from strata dating from the Upper Cretaceous through the Lower Eocene of North America, as well as the Paleocene to Eocene of Europe. The family is part of the suborder of Cimolodonta. They might be related with the Djadochtatherioidea but without further finds, this remains unclear. Other than a partial snout, fossil evidence is limited to teeth. A 2021 study vindicates this relationship.

Eucosmodontidae

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
CimolodontaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Multituberculata
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 72.2 Mya to 56 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 51.1 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 7 of 138 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 94 of 138 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 37 of 138 occurrencesEocene84–83 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences79–77 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences72–71 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences71–70 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences70–68 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences68–67 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences67–66 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 26 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 33 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 20 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 6 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 5 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–55 Mya — about 8 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 9 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 9 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 9 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 4 occurrences72.2 Mya56 Mya84.3 Mya50.5 Mya

138 occurrences of Eucosmodontidae on record, most of them in the Paleocene. 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

138 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

19 formations

Hell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.83°N, 106.18°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.53°WWillwood — 44.68°N, 108.73°WFort Union — 47.10°N, 104.80°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 44.67°N, 108.46°WFort Union — 44.68°N, 108.32°WFort Union — 44.86°N, 108.90°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 106.20°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WNacimiento — 36.30°N, 108.20°WNacimiento — 36.31°N, 108.00°WNacimiento — 36.27°N, 107.76°WNacimiento — 35.70°N, 107.00°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WPorcupine Hills — 51.00°N, 114.10°WPorcupine Hills — 51.10°N, 114.28°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFruitland — 36.30°N, 108.20°WFruitland — 36.49°N, 108.51°WTullock — 47.80°N, 106.10°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 51.00°N, 114.10°WEl Gallo — 30.20°N, 115.79°WKirtland — 36.30°N, 108.20°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WBear — 46.20°N, 109.90°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°WDjadokhta — 43.66°N, 100.90°ENorth Horn — 39.00°N, 111.00°WBlack Peaks — 29.28°N, 103.55°W

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The named rock units Eucosmodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eucosmodontidae and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Eucosmodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

753 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 113 sites for Eucosmodontidae, 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

29 references

Each of the 138 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. 17 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 Eucosmodontidae

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Eucosmodontidae 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 itCimolodonta through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Jepsen 1940