''Catopsalis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of extinct

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 ...

from 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), E ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. This animal was a relatively large member of the extinct order of

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, a ...

. Most Multituberculates were much smaller. At one time, the genus was also formally reported from the upper Cretaceous of

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. However, that material was subsequently referred to the genera of ''

Djadochtatherium ''Djadochtatherium'' is a mammal genus that lived in Mongolia during the Upper Cretaceous. It coexisted with some of the late dinosaurs. This animal was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata. It is within the suborder of Cimolodon ...

'' and ''

Catopsbaatar ''Catopsbaatar'' is a genus of multituberculate, an extinct order of rodent-like mammals. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 72 million years ago. The first fossils were colle ...

''. ''Catopsalis'' is within the suborder of

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 ecolo ...

and a member of the superfamily

Taeniolabidoidea Taeniolabidoidea is a group of extinct mammals known from North America and Asia. They were the largest members of the extinct order Multituberculata, as well as the largest non-therian mammals. '' Lambdopsalis'' even provides direct fossil evide ...

. Recent research suggests that "Catopsalis" is actually a

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

assemblage, and one species, ''C. joyneri'', has been moved to its own genus, '' Valenopsalis''.Thomas E. Williamson, Stephen L. Brusatte, Ross Secord, Sarah Shelley, A new taeniolabidoid multituberculate (Mammalia) from the middle Puercan of the Nacimiento Formation, New Mexico, and a revision of taeniolabidoid systematics and phylogeny, 5 OCT 2015,

Species

The species ''Catopsalis foliatus'' was named by Cope E.D. in 1882. It has also been known as ''C. johnstoni'' (Fox R.C. 1989) and ''Polymastodon foliatus'' (Cope 1884). This species has been found in Puercan (Paleocene)-age strata of the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and in the Ravenscrag Formation of Canada. ''C. johnstoni'', from

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, is also in the Alberta collection. The species ''Catopsalis fissidens'' was named by Cope E.D. in 1884. It has also been known as ''C. utahensis'' (Gazin C.L., 1939) and ''Polymastodon fissidens'' (Cope, 1884). It has been found in the Torrejonian (Paleocene)-age beds in the San Juan Basin of

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The University of Wyoming boasts a possible specimen. The species ''Catopsalis calgariensis'' was named by Russell L.S. in 1926. Remains were found in Paleocene-age

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

of Wyoming and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. The holotype, collected in 1924, is in the collection of Alberta University. Further material is in the possession of

Wyoming University The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in ...

. The species ''Catopsalis alexanderi'' was named by Middleton M.D. in 1982. It is found in the Puercan (Paleocene)-age Littleton Local Fauna of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

(United States), dating from 66 - 63 million years ago. Specimens are included in the collections of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

in New York and the

Peabody Museum of Natural History The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University is among the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Othn ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. The species ''Catopsalis waddleae'' was named by Buckley G.A. in 1995. It has been found in the Puercan age beds of the Simpson Quarry of Montana. Relative to the other species it is an extreme heavyweight. Remains of this species have also recently been discovered in the Idaho panhandle region.

References

* Middleton (1982), "A new species and additional material of ''Catopsalis''(Mammalia, Multituberculata) from the western interior of North Am." ''J. Paleontol.'' 56, p. 1197-1206. * Russell (1926), "A new species of the genus ''Catopsalis''Cope from the Paskapoo formation of Alberta". ''Amer. Jour. Sci.'' 5, p. 230-234, fig. 1. * Gazin (1939), "A further contribution to the Dragon Paleocene fauna of central Utah". ''J. Wash. Acad. Sci.'' 29, p. 273-286, 10 figs. * Fox (1989), "The Wounded Knee local fauna and mammalian evolution near the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, Saskatchewan, Canada". Palaeontogy. Abt. A: Paläozool., Stratigr. 208, p. 11-59 + 6 plates. * Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. {{Taxonbar, from=Q640821 Cimolodonts Paleocene mammals Prehistoric mammals of North America Prehistoric mammal genera