Mesonychia

Mesonychia is an extinct order of small to large-sized omnivorous to carnivorous hoofed mammals related to ungulates. Originally, it was hypothesized that mesonychians were a group of ungulates, however recent analysis now found them to be outside of the group entirely. Instead were a basal order of hoofed mammals within Pan-Euungulata. The order consisted of two families, Hapalodectidae and the more diverse Mesonychidae. It is believed that mesonychians evolved during the Late Cretaceous, at least 66.7 Ma.

Mesonychia

Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions · 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
Also called
mesonychianPBDB
Sits inside
AcreodiPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Acreodi
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Eutheria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 63.4 Mya to 33.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 315 occurrencesPaleocene — about 91 of 315 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 221 of 315 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 315 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 315 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 2 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 4 occurrences64–62 Mya — about 8 occurrences62–61 Mya — about 12 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 13 occurrences59–58 Mya — about 14 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 29 occurrences56–55 Mya — about 37 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 38 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 38 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 27 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 13 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 13 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 11 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 10 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 10 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 10 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 10 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 6 occurrences39–37 Mya — about 4 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences63.4 Mya33.9 Mya66.9 Mya22.2 Mya

315 occurrences of Mesonychia 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

315 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

64 formations

Willwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.63°N, 108.50°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.76°WWillwood — 44.80°N, 109.10°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.56°N, 108.70°WWillwood — 44.57°N, 108.60°WWillwood — 44.55°N, 108.71°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.41°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.61°N, 108.33°WWillwood — 44.52°N, 108.58°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.68°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.74°WWillwood — 44.39°N, 108.78°WWillwood — 44.60°N, 108.79°WWillwood — 44.66°N, 108.85°WWillwood — 44.33°N, 108.27°WWillwood — 44.16°N, 107.87°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 39.27°N, 108.18°WFort Union — 44.66°N, 108.30°WFort Union — 44.81°N, 108.84°WFort Union — 44.96°N, 109.01°WFort Union — 41.83°N, 108.60°WWashakie — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWashakie — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWashakie — 41.29°N, 108.47°WWashakie — 42.73°N, 109.17°WWashakie — 41.37°N, 108.26°WWashakie — 41.40°N, 108.17°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.27°N, 110.33°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 42.37°N, 108.91°WUinta — 40.15°N, 109.62°WUinta — 40.20°N, 109.90°WUinta — 40.08°N, 109.27°WNacimiento — 36.30°N, 108.20°WNacimiento — 35.70°N, 107.00°WNacimiento — 36.18°N, 107.58°WNacimiento — 36.27°N, 107.76°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WLushi — 34.05°N, 111.03°ENomogen — 43.53°N, 111.73°ENomogen — 43.15°N, 111.58°ENomogen — 43.37°N, 110.75°EShanghu — 25.12°N, 114.30°EShanghu — 25.08°N, 114.17°EDeBeque — 39.20°N, 108.20°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.33°WNaran Bulak — 43.47°N, 100.38°ENaran Bulak — 44.62°N, 106.18°EArshanto — 40.00°N, 111.00°EArshanto — 43.33°N, 111.76°EDevil's Graveyard — 29.90°N, 104.20°WDevil's Graveyard — 29.20°N, 103.20°WUqbulak — 46.27°N, 88.02°EShara Murum — 42.04°N, 111.53°EHuerfano — 37.80°N, 105.10°WNongshan — 25.08°N, 114.17°ENongshan — 25.37°N, 114.52°EChijiang — 25.50°N, 114.50°EChijiang — 25.44°N, 114.31°ENadu — 23.90°N, 106.62°EHanna — 41.80°N, 107.00°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 53.23°N, 114.70°WLas Tetas de Cabra — 28.68°N, 114.08°W

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The named rock units Mesonychia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 40 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 37 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mesonychia and its relatives

Eocene

Where Mesonychia and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,963 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 267 sites for Mesonychia, and this reads 240 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

122 references

Each of the 315 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. 110 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 Mesonychia

Credit
Internet Archive Book Images
Licence
No restrictions
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Mesonychia 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 itAcreodi through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.