Ptilodontoidea is a group of extinct

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fu ...

from the Northern Hemisphere. They were generally small, somewhat

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

-like creatures of the extinct

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

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, ...

. Some of these genera boast a great many species, though remains are generally sparse. '' Ptilodus'' is among the best known, and there's a tendency to depict it as an analog of a squirrel. Upper

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

remains are known from North America and Europe. Later representatives (

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

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'', " ...

) hail from North America, Europe and Asia. These were some of the last multituberculates, and they are within the suborder

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 ...

. The superfamily is further divided into the following families: *

Neoplagiaulacidae Neoplagiaulacidae is a family of mammal within the extinct order Multituberculata. Fossil remains are known from the Upper Cretaceous through to the latest Eocene/early Oligocene. Representatives have been found in North America, Europe and Asi ...

- 10 genera; * Ptilodontidae - 4 genera; *

Cimolodontidae Cimolodontidae is a family of fossil mammals within the extinction, extinct Order (biology), order Multituberculata. Representatives are known from the Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene of North America. The family Cimolodontidae was named by Oth ...

- possibly 3 genera. The affinities of '' Neoliotomus'' are less clear, though it seems to fit somewhere within the superfamily.

References

* Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals." ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * Much of this information has been derived fro

''MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Ptilodontoidea, an Internet directory''. {{Taxonbar, from=Q7257049 Ptilodontoids, Cretaceous mammals Paleocene mammals Eocene mammals Eocene extinctions