''Merialus'' is a genus of extinct

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

-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 ...

s belonging to the order

Cimolesta Cimolesta is an extinct order of non-placental eutherian mammals. Cimolestans had a wide variety of body shapes, dentition and lifestyles, though the majority of them were small to medium-sized general mammals that bore superficial resemblances ...

Taxonomy

There are two species of ''Merialus'' recognized so far, ''M. martinae'' and ''M. bruneti''. Both have been found in Ypresian-age deposits in the Paris Basin.Floréal Solé; Olivia Plateau; Kévin Le Verger; Alain Phélizon (2019). New paroxyclaenid mammals from the early Eocene of the Paris Basin (France) shed light on the origin and evolution of these endemic European cimolestans. ''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'' Online edition. .

References

Cimolestans Eocene mammals Eocene mammals of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1988 Prehistoric mammal genera {{paleo-mammal-stub