''Batodonoides vanhouteni'' is an extinct
shrew
Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to different fa ...
-like
mammal
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), fur or ...
, thought to be
the smallest mammal that ever lived, as well as the smallest
synapsid that ever lived. Based on the size of its
molar teeth, it is estimated that ''Batodonoides vanhouteni'' weighed only (with most likely). They lived about 53 million years ago during the early
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
Epoch in North America.
[
] The species is a member of the Order
Eulipotyphla.
The fossilized remains of a juvenile, consisting of a mandible and some teeth, were discovered in 1998 in Wyoming in 53-million-year-old rocks. Another member of the genus is known from California, also from the
Early Eocene
In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian i ...
.
See also
*
Smallest organisms
References
External links
Teeth of ''B. vanhouteni''from the
University of California Museum of Paleontology
Prehistoric Eulipotyphla
Fossil taxa described in 1998
Prehistoric mammals of North America
Eocene mammals
{{paleo-eulipotyphla-stub