Epoicotheriidae ("strange beasts") is an extinct family of

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

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 ...

s which were endemic to

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 ...

from 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' ...

to the early Oligocene 55.8—30.9 Ma existing for approximately . Epoicotheriids were highly specialized animals that were convergent with the

golden moles Golden moles are small insectivorous burrowing mammals endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa. They comprise the family Chrysochloridae and as such they are taxonomically distinct from the true moles, family Talpidae, and other mole-like families, all ...

of Africa in the structure of their skulls and forelimbs, and would have had a similar lifestyle as subterranean burrowers.Kenneth D. Rose, Robert J. Emry (1983
"Extraordinary fossorial adaptations in the oligocene palaeanodonts ''Epoicotherium'' and ''Xenocranium'' (Mammalia)"
Journal of Morphology 175(1):33 - 56

Classification and phylogeny

Taxonomy

Epoicotheriidae was named by

Simpson Simpson most often refers to: * Simpson (name), a British surname *''The Simpsons'', an animated American sitcom **The Simpson family, central characters of the series ''The Simpsons'' Simpson may also refer to: Organizations Schools *Simpso ...

in 1927. It was assigned to the

Palaeanodonta Palaeanodonta ("ancient toothless animals") is an extinct clade of stem- pangolins. They were insectivorous, possibly fossorial, and lived from the Early Paleocene to Early Oligocene in North America, Europe and East Asia. While the taxonomic ...

by Rose (1978) and Carroll (1988).

Classification

* Family: †Epoicotheriidae (Simpson, 1927) ** Genus: †'' Alocodontulum'' (Rose, 1978) *** †''Alocodontulum atopum'' (Rose, 1977) ** Genus: †'' Auroratherium'' (Tong & Wang, 1997) *** †''Auroratherium sinense'' (Tong & Wang, 1997) ** Genus: †'' Dipassalus'' (Rose, 1991) *** †''Dipassalus oryctes'' (Rose, 1991) ** Genus: †'' Pentapassalus'' (Gazin, 1952) *** †''Pentapassalus pearcei'' (Gazin, 1952) *** †''Pentapassalus woodi'' (Guthrie, 1967) ** Genus: †'' Tubulodon'' (Jepsen, 1932) *** †''Tubulodon taylori'' (Jepsen, 1932) ** Subfamily: † Epoicotheriinae (Simpson, 1927) *** Genus: †'' Epoicotherium'' (Simpson, 1927) **** †''Epoicotherium unicum'' (Douglass, 1905) *** Genus: †'' Molaetherium'' (Storch & Rummel, 1999) **** †''Molaetherium heissigi'' (Storch & Rummel, 1999) *** Genus: †'' Tetrapassalus'' (Simpson, 1959) **** †''Tetrapassalus mckennai'' (Simpson, 1959) **** †''Tetrapassalus proius'' (West, 1973) *** Genus: †''

Xenocranium ''Xenocranium'' ("strange skull") is a monotypic genus of extinct epoicotheriid mammal whose fossils were recovered from late Eocene of the American state of Wyoming. The single species is ''Xenocranium pileorivale''. Etymology The name ''Xen ...

'' (Colbert, 1942) **** †''Xenocranium pileorivale'' (Colbert, 1942)

Phylogenetic tree

The phylogenetic relationships of Epoicotheriidae are shown in the following cladogram:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4179279 Palaeanodonta Eocene mammals Eocene first appearances Prehistoric mammals of North America Myrmecophagous mammals Eocene extinctions Prehistoric mammal families