''Prochetodon'' is a genus of

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 from the

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

order

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 ...

. It lived during the Upper

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 ...

and the Lower

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' ...

in North America. The genus was formally named by G. L. Jepsen in 1940. ( Jepsen, 1940)

''P. cavus''

The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

''Prochetodon cavus'' weighed about 135 g. Remains have been discovered in

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 ...

, in the United States. They were found in the Princeton Quarry, and the deposits were dated from the Upper Paleocene to the Lower Eocene. Material is in the collection of 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 ...

at Yale. The species was named by G. L. Jepsen in 1940. ( Jepsen, 1940)

''P. foxi''

The species ''Prochetodon foxi'' weighed about 200 g. Remains have been discovered in Wyoming and

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 ...

in the United States, in the Long Draw Quarry, and in the

Swan Hills Swan Hills is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is in the eponymous Swan Hills, approximately north of Whitecourt and northwest of Fort Assiniboine. The town is at the junction of Highway 32 and Grizzly Trail, and is surrounded by Big Lak ...

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

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 ...

are dated to the Upper Paleocene. The species was named by David. W. Krause in 1987. ( Krause, 1987)

''P. taxus''

The species ''Prochetodon taxus'' weighed about 190 g. Remains have been discovered in Wyoming, in the United States, in the deposits of Clark's Fork Basin, which have been dated to the Upper Paleocene. David Krause first tentatively referred to the species ''P. cf. cavus'' in 1980, and then gave it its current classification in 1987. ( Krause, 1987)

References

* G. L. Jepsen (1940). "Paleocene faunas of the Polecat Bench formation, Park County, Wyoming". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 83, pg. 217–340. * Z. Kielan-Jaworowska & J. H. Hurum (2001). "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, pg. 389–429. * David W. Krause (1987). Systematic revision of the genus ''Prochetodon'' (Ptilodontidae, Multituberculata) from the late Paleocene and early Eocene of western North America. ''Contributions from the Museum of Paleont, University of Michigan'' 27(8), pg. 221–236. * Much of this information has been derived fro
MESOZOIC MAMMALS: Ptilodontoidea
an Internet directory. {{Taxonbar, from=Q778375 Ptilodontoids Paleocene mammals Eocene mammals Eocene genus extinctions Fossils of the United States Prehistoric mammal genera