Essonodon is a mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata and lived towards the end of the "age of the dinosaurs." It is within the suborder Cimolodonta and perhaps the family Cimolomyidae. It contains a single speces, Essonodon browni formerly also known as Cimolodon nitidus (Marsh 1889).
| Essonodon Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Multituberculata |
| Family: | †Cimolomyidae |
| Genus: | †Essonodon Simpson, 1927 |
| Species: | †E. browni
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| Binomial name | |
| †Essonodon browni Simpson, 1927
| |
The genus Essonodon was named by Simpson G.G. in 1927, and is also partly known as Cimolodon. The inclusion of this taxon within Cimolomyidae is tentative. (Kielan-Jaworowska & Hurum 2001, p. 408).
Fossils are known from the late Campanian to the end of the Maastrichtian. They are known from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana & North Dakota (USA), the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan (Canada), and the Fruitland & Ojo Alamo Formations of New Mexico (USA).[1]
This species was a large multituberculate that weighed in at over 2.5 kilograms.
References
edit- Simpson (1927), "Mammalian fauna of the Hell Creek Formation of Montana." Amer. Mus. Novit. 267, p. 1-7, 6 figs.
- Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals." Paleontology 44, p. 389-429.
- Much of this information has been derived from [1] MESOZOIC MAMMALS; 'basal' Cimolodonta, Cimolomyidae, Boffiidae and Kogaionidae, an Internet directory.
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- ^ "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-12-02.