Eurymylidae

Eurymylidae is a family of extinct simplicidentates. Most authorities consider them to be basal to all modern rodents and suggest they may have been the ancestral stock from which the most recent common ancestor of all modern rodents arose. However, the better-known eurymylids, including Eurymylus, Heomys, Matutinia, and Rhombomylus, appear to represent a monophyletic side branch that is not directly ancestral to rodents. Huang et al. (2004) have argued that Hanomys, Matutinia, and Rhombomylus form a clade characterized by distinctive features of the skull and dentition which should be recognized as a separate family: Rhombomylidae. Eurymylids are only known from Asia.

Eurymylidae

Jonathan Chen · CC BY 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
GliresPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Theria
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 5.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 61.66 Mya to 56 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 48.07 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 17 occurrencesPaleocene — about 8 of 17 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 9 of 17 occurrencesEocene67–66 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–63 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences63–62 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–61 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences60–60 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences60–59 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–57 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence56–55 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences55–55 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences55–54 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences53–53 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences51–51 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences49–49 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences48–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences61.66 Mya56 Mya66.5 Mya47.6 Mya

17 occurrences of Eurymylidae on record. 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

17 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

8 formations

Naran Bulak — 44.62°N, 106.18°ENaran Bulak — 43.47°N, 100.37°ELingcha — 27.08°N, 112.95°ELingcha — 26.91°N, 112.61°EKhashat — 44.00°N, 104.00°EDoumu — 30.76°N, 116.55°EWanghudun — 30.76°N, 116.55°EYuhuangding — 32.57°N, 111.48°EZhangshanji — 32.49°N, 118.47°ETaizicun — 42.38°N, 89.77°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Eurymylidae 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.

Found in the same rock

105 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Eurymylidae, 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

11 references

Each of the 17 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. 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 Eurymylidae

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

No 3D scan of Eurymylidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itGlires through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Matthew et al. 1929