The Tiffanian North American Stage on the

geologic timescale The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochron ...

is the North American

faunal stage In chronostratigraphy, a stage is a succession of rock strata laid down in a single age on the geologic timescale, which usually represents millions of years of deposition. A given stage of rock and the corresponding age of time will by conven ...

according to the

North American Land Mammal Ages The North American land mammal ages (NALMA) establishes a geologic timescale for North American fauna beginning during the Late Cretaceous and continuing through to the present. These periods are referred to as ages or intervals (or stages when ref ...

chronology (NALMA), typically set from 60,200,000 to 56,800,000 years BP lasting . It is usually considered to overlap the

Selandian The Selandian is a stage in the Paleocene. It spans the time between . It is preceded by the Danian and followed by the Thanetian. Sometimes the Paleocene is subdivided in subepochs, in which the Selandian forms the "middle Paleocene". Stratig ...

and

Thanetian The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...

within the

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

. The Tiffanian is preceded by the Torrejonian and followed by the Clarkforkian NALMA stages.

Substages

The Tiffanian is considered to contain the following substages: *Ti6: Lower boundary source of the base of the Tiffanian (approximate). *Ti5 Lower boundary source of the base of the Tiffanian (approximate) and upper boundary source of the base of the Clarkforkian (approximate). *Ti4: Lower boundary source of the base of the Tiffanian (approximate) and upper boundary source of the base of the Clarkforkian (approximate). *Ti3: Lower boundary source of the base of the Tiffanian (approximate) and upper boundary source of the base of the Clarkforkian (approximate). *Ti2: Lower boundary source of the base of the Tiffanian (approximate) and upper boundary source of the base of the Clarkforkian (approximate). *Ti1: Upper boundary source of the base of the Clarkforkian (approximate)

Fauna

Notable mammals

Multituberculata Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct Order (biology), order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the M ...

- non-therian mammals * '' Neoplagiaulax'', neoplagiaulacid multituberculate * ''

Ptilodus ''Ptilodus'' (meaning "soft-haired") is a genus of mammals from the extinct order of Multituberculata, and lived during the Paleocene in North America. ''Ptilodus'' was a relatively large multituberculate of in length, which is about the same ...

'',

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

-sized ptilodontid

Metatheria Metatheria is a mammalian clade that includes all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is a more inclusive group than the marsupials; it contains all marsupials as wel ...

- marsupials * '' Peradectes'', peradectid marsupial Apatotheria - primitive, arboreal mammals * '' Labidolemur'',

aye-aye The aye-aye (''Daubentonia madagascariensis'') is a long-fingered lemur, a Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar with rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger that they can use to catch grubs ...

-like

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

mammal Condylarthra - archaic

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

* '' Claenodon'', large, arctocyonid condylarth * '' Ectocion'', phenacodontid condylarth * '' Lambertocyon'', arctocyonid condylarth * '' Phenacodus'', phenacodontid condylarth * '' Thryptacodon'', raccoon-like arctocyonid condylarth

Dinocerata Dinocerata, from Ancient Greek (), "terrible", and (), "horn", or Uintatheria, is an extinct order of large herbivorous hoofed mammals with horns and protuberant canine teeth, known from the Paleocene and Eocene of Asia and North America. With ...

- large, tusked herbivores * '' Probathyopsis'', early North American uintathere Eulipotyphla - insectivorous mammals * '' Adunator'', erinaceomorph insectivore * '' Leptacodon'', nyctitheriid insectivore * '' Litocherus'', erinaceomorph insectivore Primatomorpha - primates and relatives * '' Carpodaptes'', carpolestid plesiadapiform * '' Carpolestes'', carpolestid plesiadapiform * '' Chiromyoides'', small plesiadapid * '' Ignacius'', paramomyid plesiadapiform * '' Nannodectes'', basal plesiadapid * '' Phenacolemur'', paramomyid plesiadapiform * ''

Plesiadapis ''Plesiadapis'' is one of the oldest known primate-like mammal genera which existed about 58–55 million years ago in North America and Europe. ''Plesiadapis'' means "near-Adapis", which is a reference to the Adapiformes, adapiform primate of th ...

'', plesiadapid plesiadapiform Proteutheria - basal eutherians * '' Palaeoryctes'', small insectivorous mammal

References

{{Paleogene Footer Paleocene life