Eocene Paleozoo

Isectolophus

The Isectolophidae is a family of perissodactyls that emerged near the early middle Eocene boundary about 50 Ma and is very closely related to modern tapirs.. Perissodactyls are odd-toed ungulates (hoofed mammals that walk on their toes) characterized by having feet that are symmetric about the third digit with generally one, three, or five digits, a single pulley astragulus (ankle bone), and simple Read More Here...

Diacodexis

Diacodexis is the most primitive and earliest known artiodactyl (or even-toed ungulate) (Rose et al., 2005). It had digitigrade feet with a hoof on each toe. Diacodexis was an herbivore/omnivore about the size of a large rabbit and may have resembled the Asian mouse deer (Rose, 2001), with elongated hind limbs. The modern group of artiodactyls includes animals such as camels, giraffes, deer, sheep Read More Here...

Hyopsodus

Hyopsodus thrived during most of the early and middle Eocene specifically in the North American western Rocky Mountain region from present-day Saskatchewan to New Mexico (Gazin, 1968). This small mammal, ranging from rat-size species to larger raccoon-size species, achieved its highest population levels during the warm, subtropical environments of the early and middle Eocene. By the late Eocene, Hyopsodus Read More Here...

Pantolestes

General Description: Pantolestes, according to the few skeletons known, had a robust body with a well-developed tail which possibly indicates semiaquatic habits (Matthew 1909), particularly in Pantolestes from the middle Eocene of Wyoming. This conclusion was based on the humerus, which resembles that of otters in being short, robust, and slightly S-shaped in lateral profile. The broad tail, proximally Read More Here...

Notharctus

Time and Habitat Range: Early to Middle Eocene, approximately 53 to 45 mya (Gunnell 2008). It is a likely a descendant of Cantius of the late Wasatchian (Szalay and Delson 1979). Primates related to Notharctus (the adapids) are also common in Europe. Notharctus lived in a tropical forest habitat. Size: Notharctus weighed between 0.5 to 7kg. The larger ones were about the size of present-day lemurs Read More Here...

Paramys

Paramys was one of the earliest known rodents belonging to a primitive family of rodents known as ischyromids. It was relatively common during the Eocene and lived in North America and Eurasia. In 1910, W. D. Mathews, while describing a specimen of Paramys delicatus, considered the Ischyromyidae to be, more or less, ancestral to all later rodents. While many agree with this theory in principal it has Read More Here...

Lambdotherium

Lambdotherium was perhaps the first genus of Brontotheriidae to emerge. Like their other primitive Brontotheriidae relatives, Lambdotherium lacked horns on their skulls. (Rose 2006). The appearance of Lambdotherium marks the beginning of the Lostcabinian in (Wa-7), the last time interval of the Wasatchian period (Clyde et al. 2004). Lambdotherium is the index fossil for the Lostcabinian. Lambdotherium Read More Here...

Bunophorus

Bunophorus is among the most primitive and earliest known artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates), with Bunophorus robustus being the most primitive species (Stucky, 1998). Bunophorus species were small, perhaps about a meter in body length. Bunophorus may have looked like a small antelope with elongated hind legs and no cranial ornamentation (Theodor et al, 2005) and had robust, bunodont cheek teeth much Read More Here...

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