Mesonychia

Common card · No. 426538

Mesonychia ("middle claws"), sometimes referred as Acreodi, is an extinct order of small to large-sized omnivorous to carnivorous hoofed mammals related to ungulates. Originally, it was hypothesized that mesonychians were a group of ungulates, however recent analysis now found them to be outside of the group entirely. Instead they were a basal order of hoofed mammals within Pan-Euungulata. The order consisted of two families, Hapalodectidae and the more diverse and widespread Mesonychidae. It is believed that mesonychians evolved during the Late Cretaceous, at least 66.7 Ma. Mesonychids, as well as mesonychians as a whole, first appeared in fossil record in the Early Paleocene of East Asia with Dissacus rotundus, Yantanglestes, Hukoutherium, and Dissacusium. Dissacus would later disperse into North America during the Early Paleocene, before dispersing into Northwestern Europe by the end of it. Dissacus was a jackal-sized predator, but taxon of a closely related or identical genus, Ankalagon...

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