Essonodon

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Essonodon
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Multituberculata
Family: Cimolomyidae
Genus: Essonodon
Species:
E. browni
Binomial name
Essonodon browni
Simpson, 1927

Essonodon is a

extinct order Multituberculata and lived towards the end of the "age of the dinosaurs." It is within the suborder Cimolodonta and perhaps the family Cimolomyidae
.

The genus Essonodon was named by Simpson G.G. in 1927, and is also partly known as Cimolodon. The inclusion of this taxon within Cimolomyidae is tentative. (Kielan-Jaworowska & Hurum 2001, p. 408).

The species: Essonodon browni has also partly been known as Cimolodon nitidus (Marsh 1889).

Place: Hell Creek, Montana & San Juan Basin, New Mexico & Wyoming (USA)
Age: Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous)
This species was a large multituberculate that weighed in at over 2.5 kilograms. Further material has been reported from the Frenchman Formation of Canada.

References

  • Simpson (1927), "Mammalian fauna of the Hell Creek Formation of Montana." Amer. Mus. Novit. 267, p. 1-7, 6 figs.
  • Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals." Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.
  • Much of this information has been derived from [1] MESOZOIC MAMMALS; 'basal' Cimolodonta, Cimolomyidae, Boffiidae and Kogaionidae, an Internet directory.