Mesodma

Mesodma
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Multituberculata
Superfamily:	Ptilodontoidea
Family:	Neoplagiaulacidae
Genus:	Mesodma
Species
M. ambigua M. formosa M. hensleighi M. primaeva M. pygmaea M. senecta M. thompsoni

Mesodma is an extinct genus of mammal, a member of the extinct order Multituberculata within the suborder Cimolodonta, family Neoplagiaulacidae. It lived during the upper Cretaceous and Paleocene Periods of what is now North America.

Species

• Mesodma ambigua
  • Place: Mantua Lentil, Wyoming (USA)
  • Age: Maastrichtian-Puercan, Upper Cretaceous - Paleocene
  • Weight: about 55 g
• Mesodma formosa
  • Place: Hell Creek and Frenchman Formation, USA & Canada. This species is possibly also known from Utah.
  • Age: Maastrichtian-Puercan (Upper Cretaceous to the Paleocene).
  • Weight: about 30 g
• Mesodma hensleighi
  • Place: Hell Creek Formation in the U.S. and in Saskatchewan, Canada.
  • Age: Campanian (Upper Cretaceous).
  • Weight: around 15 g
• Mesodma primaeva
  • Place: Montana and Wyoming
  • Age: Campanian (Upper Cretaceous – Lower Paleocene)
• Mesodma pygmaea
  • Place: Gidley Quarry, Montana, as well as Wyoming and Alberta, Canada
  • Age: Torrejonian-Tiffanian (Middle Paleocene).
  • Weight: about 8 g
• Mesodma senecta
  • Age: Campanian (Upper Cretaceous)
  • Weight: about 50 g
• Mesodma thompsoni (=M. garfieldensis)^[1]
  • Place: St Mary River Formation & Montana and Wyoming of the USA and Canada
  • Age: Maastrichtian-Puercan, Upper Cretaceous - Paleocene
  • Weight: about 55 g

References

1. Stephanie M. Smith &, Gregory P. Wilson (2016) Species Discrimination of Co-Occurring Small Fossil Mammals: A Case Study of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Multituberculate Genus Mesodma. Journal of Mammalian Evolution (advance online publication) DOI: 10.1007/s10914-016-9332-2 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10914-016-9332-2

• Osborn (1891); "A review of the Cretaceous Mammalia". Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 124 - 135.
• Simpson (1929), "American Mesozoic Mammalia". Mem. Peabody Mus. Nat. Hist. iii (i): p. 1-235.
• Clemens (1963), "Fossil mammals of the type Lance formation Wyoming. Part I. Introduction and Multituberculata". Univ. Calif. Pub;. Geol. Sci. 48, p. 1-105. (According to Peabody Museum database.)
• Marsh (1889), "Discovery of Cretaceous Mammalia". Am. J. Sci. (3) xxxviii, p. 177-180.
• Archibald (1982), A study of Mammalia and geology across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Garfield County, Montana. Univ. of Calif. Publ. Geol. Sci. 122xvi+, 286pp.
• Jepsen (1940), "Paleocene faunas of the Polecat Bench formation, Park County, Wyoming". Pro. Amer. Philos. Soc 83, p. 217-341, 21 figs., 5 pls.
• Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.