Eucosmodontidae is a poorly preserved family of
fossil mammals within the extinct order
Multituberculata. Representatives are known from
strata
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
dating from the Upper
Cretaceous through the Lower
Eocene of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, as well as the
Paleocene to Eocene of
Europe. The family is part of the
suborder
Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...
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.
The taxonomic name Eucosmodontidae was given by
Jepsen in 1940. Some authors interpret this version of Eucosmodontidae and
Microcosmodontidae as being subfamilies rather than families.
References
* Most of this information has been derived fro
''MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Eucosmodontidae,
Microcosmodontidae and
Taeniolabidoidea, an Internet directory''.
* Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5406233
Cimolodonts
Late Cretaceous first appearances
Eocene extinctions
Prehistoric mammal families