''Mesodmops'' 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 small
mammal from the
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
of
China. It was a late member of the extinct order of
Multituberculata
Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, ...
. It's within the suborder of
Cimolodonta
Cimolodonta is a taxon of extinct mammals that lived from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. They were some of the more derived members of the extinct order Multituberculata. They probably lived something of a rodent-like existence until their eco ...
and family
Neoplagiaulacidae. The genus was named by Y. Tong and T. Wang in 1994.
The primary species is ''Mesodmops dawsonae'', also named by Tong and Wang. It has been found in the Lower Eocene of the Wutu Basin in Shandong, China.
References
Tong & Wang (1994), ''A new neoplagiaulacid multituberculate (Mammalia) from the lower Eocene of Wutu Basin, Shandong''. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 32, p. 275-284. (Chinese with summary in English.)
Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), ''Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals''. Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.
* Most of this information has been derived fro
MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Ptilodontoidea, an Internet directory.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6821482
Ptilodontoids
Eocene mammals
Fossils of China
Prehistoric mammal genera