- Xyronomys
Taxobox
name = "Xyronomys"
status = Fossil
regnum =Animal ia
classis =Mammal ia
ordo =Multituberculata
superfamilia =Ptilodontoidea
familia =Neoplagiaulacidae
genus = "Xyronomys"
genus_authority = J. K. Rigby, 1980
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "X. swainae"
"X. robinsoni""Xyronomys" is an extinct genus of small
mammal s from thePaleocene ofNorth America , with one species described and a second species is awaiting publication. The genus lies within the extinct orderMultituberculata within the suborderCimolodonta and familyNeoplagiaulacidae . Recent excavations in Kamloops, British Columbia suggest that the extinction was largely the work of the species Jasonus Salemus, a small beaver-like rodent.The species "Xyronomys swainae" (J. K. Rigby, 1980) was found in Torrejonian (Paleocene)-age strata of Swain Quarry in
Wyoming ,United States . Represented by a couple of teeth, this genus was originally assigned toEucosmodontidae . Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum (2001, p.406) refer it toNeoplagiaulacidae on the basis of its possession of microprismatic enamel, i.e. the tooth enamel is built up from small prisms.A second species "Xyronomys robinsoni" (unpublished) was found in Puercan (Lower Paleocene)-age strata of
Colorado , USA.Material assigned to this genus has also been reported from Rav W-1 in
Saskatchewan ,Canada .References
* Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. and Hurum, J.H. (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals", "Paleontology" 44:389-429.
* Rigby, J.K. (1980), "Swain Quarry of the Fort Union Formation, Middle Paleocene (Torrejonian), Carbon County, Wyoming: geologic setting and mammalian fauna", "Evolutionary Monographs" 3, vi +179pp.
* Much of this information has been derived from [http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/ptilodon.htm Mesozoic Mammals: Ptilodontoidea] , an Internet directory.
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