''Aletodon'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
ground dwelling insectivore
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores wer ...
s, now extinct. The genus flourished from around 58.7 to 55.8
Ma.
It was native to
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
,
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...
, and western
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...
.
Species
There are currently 4 recognized species in this genus:
* ''Aletodon conardae''
( Winterfeld, 1982)
* ''Aletodon gunnelli''
(Gingerich Gingerich is a surname of German origin. Other forms of the name are Gingrich, Gingerick and Gingery and its original form Güngerich, also written Guengerich. In Bern, Switzerland it was record as early as 1389 and in 1692 it was first recorded ...
, 1977)
* ''Aletodon mellon''
( Van Valen, 1978)
* ''Aletodon quadravus''
(Gingerich Gingerich is a surname of German origin. Other forms of the name are Gingrich, Gingerick and Gingery and its original form Güngerich, also written Guengerich. In Bern, Switzerland it was record as early as 1389 and in 1692 it was first recorded ...
, 1983)
References
Fossil taxa described in 1977
Paleocene mammals
Prehistoric mammals of North America
Prehistoric placental genera
Condylarths
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