Mesonychid
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Hapalodectidae |
Mesonychia ("Middle Claws") are an extinct order of even-toed carnivorous ungulates (hoofed animals) which looked like wolves, and were scavengers for carrion and hunters of fish. The order is sometimes referred to by its older name, "Acreodi." These animals possessed unusual triangular teeth that are similar to those of whales, as well as having similar skull anatomies. For this reason, scientists had long believed that whales evolved from a form of mesonychid.
Technically speaking, the term "mesonychid" refers specifically to the members of the family Mesonychidae, such as the species of the genus Mesonyx. However, as the order is also named for Mesonyx, the term "mesonychid" is popularly used to refer to members of the other families, such as the triisodontid mesonychid, Andrewsarchus, which is, coincidentally, among the best-known members of the entire order.
These 'wolves on hooves' were the dominant predators (although several paleontologists believe that they were scavengers) in the late Paleocene and Eocene. They are closely related to the Artiodactylans and Cetaceans, although they are no longer seen as the ancestors of whales. They probably descended from the Condylarths and are part of the cohort or superorder Laurasiatheria.
The mesonychid Andrewsarchus is suspected of being the largest known terrestrial mammalian predator, due to its metre-long skull, substantially larger than that of the largest living mammalian predator, the Kodiak bear
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Paleocene Mammals of the World: Carnivores, Creodonts and Carnivorous Ungulates
- Mesonychids in Cryptozoology
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