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Cimolesta is an extinct biological order of mammals. It is part of the Ferae and possibly a sister taxon to the Perissodactyla. The Cimolesta contains several groups that are very different from each other, and are sometimes regarded as separate orders: the hooved Pantodonta, the insectivorous Didelphodonta (containing the well-known genus Cimolestes, a possible ancestor of the Carnivores) the carnivorous (?) Tillodonta, the Taeniodonta and the Apatotheria. Several groups are believed to have descended from the Cimolesta: the Pholidota, the Creodonta and the Carnivora. Cimolestans had a wide variety of body shapes, dentition and livestyles.
