''Tetraclaenodon'' was a genus of small and early

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with Hoof, hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s that was part of the

Phenacodontidae Phenacodontidae is an extinct family of large herbivorous mammals traditionally placed in the “wastebasket taxon” Condylarthra, which may instead represent early-stage perissodactyls. They lived from the late early Paleocene to early middle ...

family. It is the oldest and most primitive phenacodontid. Its fossils known from the

Nacimiento Formation The Nacimiento Formation is a sedimentary rock formation found in the San Juan Basin of western New Mexico (United States). It has an age of 61 to 65.7 million years, corresponding to the early and middle Paleocene. The formation has yielded an ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. In 2012, ''Tetraclaenodon'' was defined as the basalmost member of the clade containing "Phenacodontidae" and Altungulata. Tetraclaenodon puercensis

References

Phenacodontidae Prehistoric mammal genera Fossil taxa described in 1892 Paleocene mammals of North America {{paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub