''Palaeoryctes'' (Greek: "old" (palaeos), "digger" (oryctes)
) is an extinct genus of mammal from Middle to Late
Palaeocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiĆ ...
of
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 ...
.
''Palaeoryctes'' resembled a modern
shrew, being slender and sharp-nosed, with typical
insectivore
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 wer ...
teeth. It was around long, and weighed around . The
molars of ''Palaeoryctes'' had little function other than piercing.
References
Cimolestans
Paleocene mammals
Paleocene mammals of North America
Prehistoric mammal genera
{{paleo-mammal-stub