Microcosmodon

Microcosmodon is a mammal genus from the Paleocene of North America. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata, and lies within the suborder Cimolodonta and family Microcosmodontidae. The genus Microcosmodon was named by G.L. Jepsen in 1930.

Microcosmodon

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
MicrocosmodontidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Multituberculata
Life habit
arborealPBDB, for Multituberculata
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Mammalia

Time the record covers

At least 5.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 63.4 Mya to 57.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 56 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 27 occurrencesPaleocene — about 27 of 27 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 27 occurrences66–66 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences66–65 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences65–65 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences65–65 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences65–64 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences64–64 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences64–64 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences64–63 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences61–61 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences61–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence59–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–56 Mya — about 1 occurrence63.4 Mya57.5 Mya66.5 Mya55.5 Mya

27 occurrences of Microcosmodon 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

27 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

4 formations

Fort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 103.90°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFort Union — 44.91°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.66°N, 108.30°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WPaskapoo — 52.23°N, 113.63°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.46°WGoler — 35.50°N, 117.77°W

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The named rock units Microcosmodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Microcosmodon and its relatives

Paleocene

Where Microcosmodon and its relatives were recorded in the Paleocene.

Found in the same rock

323 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Microcosmodon, 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

12 references

Each of the 27 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 Microcosmodon

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

No 3D scan of Microcosmodon 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 itMicrocosmodontidae through timeFormations of the PaleoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Jepsen 1930