Triisodontidae

Taxobox
name = Triisodontids
fossil_range = Early Paleocene to Late Eocene

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image_caption = Reconstruction of "Andrewsarchus"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = †Mesonychia
familia = †Triisodontidae
familia_authority = Trouessart, 1904
type_genus = "Triisodon"
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = †"Andrewsarchus"
†"Eoconodon"
†"Goniacodon"
†"Stelocyon"
†"Triisodon"

Triisodontidae (literally "Three Equal Teeth") is an extinct family of mesonychian placental mammals. Most triisodontid genera lived during the early Paleocene in North America, but the genus "Andrewsarchus" is known from the late Eocene of Asia.cite book | author = McKenna, M. C, and S. K. Bell | year = 1997 | title = Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level | publisher = Columbia University Press | id = ISBN 023111012X] Triisodontids were the first relatively large predatory mammals to appear in North America following the extinction of the dinosaurs.cite journal | author = Clemens, W.A. and T.E. Williamson | year = 2005 | title = A new species of "Eoconodon" (Triisodontidae, Mammalia) from the San Juan Basin, New Mexico | journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | volume = 25 | issue = 1 | pages = 208–213 | url = | doi = 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025 [0208:ANSOET] 2.0.CO;2 | doilabel = 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0208:ANSOET]2.0.CO;2 ] They differ from other mesonychian families in having less highly modified teeth.cite journal | author = Matthew, W.D. | year = 1937 | title = Paleocene faunas of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico | journal = Transactions of the American Philosophical Society | volume = 30 | issue = | pages = 1–510 | url = | doi = 10.2307/1005521 ]

Because of their comparatively simpler teeth, the Triisodontids are regarded as basal mesonychids. Some experts regard the Triisodontids as being condylarths, or even arctocyonids, rather than mesonychids proper.

References