Jeholodens
| Jeholodens Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 125Ma | |
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| Fossil specimen, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Eutriconodonta |
| Family: | †Jeholodentidae |
| Genus: | †Jeholodens Ji et al., 1999 |
| Type species | |
| †Jeholodens jenkinsi Ji et al., 1999 | |
Jeholodens was a primitive mammal belonging to the Triconodonta family, and which lived in present-day China during the Middle Cretaceous about 125 million years ago.
Known only from a single specimen, the holotype consists of a virtually complete articulated skull and skeleton, it shared its corporal characteristics with most other Mesozoic mammals; it was a long-tailed, nocturnal tetrapod (with prehensile fingers and toes) which hunted insects, its food, during the night.
It is suspected to be a nocturnal creature because it had very large eyes which were roughly 5 cm across. This would have allowed it to have better night vision for catching insects. It was a relatively advanced mammal for its time and had larger shoulders blades and collar bone; it also had grasping hands.