Class Mammalia

Mammals and Relatives

Class Mammalia

Artiodactyla
Bovidae

Bovidae

Bovidae

Camelidae

Camelidae

Camelidae

Cervidae

Cervidae

Cervidae

Dichobunidae

Dichobunidae

Dichobunidae

Hippopotamidae

Hippopotamidae

Hippopotamidae

Tayassuidae

Tayassuidae

Tayassuidae


Carnivora
Canidae

Canidae

Canidae

Felidae

Felidae

Felidae

Mustelidae

Mustelidae

Mustelidae

Ursidae

Ursidae

Ursidae


Cetacea
Basilosauridae

Basilosauridae

Basilosauridae

Pakicetidae

Pakicetidae

Pakicetidae

Protocetidae

Protocetidae

Protocetidae


Creodonta
Oxyaenidae

Oxyaenidae

Oxyaenidae

Hyaenodontidae

Hyaenodontidae

Hyaenodontidae


Lagomorpha
Leporidae

Leporidae

Leporidae


Mesonychia
Mesonychidae

1582

Mesonychidae

Perissodactyla
Brontotheriidae

1601

Brontotheriidae

Equidae

1282

Equidae

Hyracodontidae

UMMP VP 9360

Hyracodontidae

Isectolophidae

UMMP VP 78915

Isectolophidae

Rhinocerotidae

Rhinocerotidae

Rhinocerotidae


Proboscidea

“Proboscidea” is the order of mammals that includes living elephants and their relatives, going back to the early Cenozoic.  Proboscideans possess a “trunk” derived from tissues of the nose, face, and upper lip, and most have “tusks” – enlarged, ever-growing incisor teeth.  They arose in Africa and later spread to Eurasia and North and South America.  The only living representatives are two species of African elephant and one species of Asian elephant, but many Cenozoic faunas included proboscideans – sometimes several species.

Elephantidae

UMMP VP 22798 Mandible

Elephantidae

Mammutidae

Mammutidae

Mammutidae


Proprimates
Plesiadapidae

Plesiadapidae

Plesiadapidae


Rodentia
Castoridae

Castoridae

Castoridae

Sciuridae

Sciuridae

Sciuridae


Sirenia
Dugongidae

Dugongidae

Dugongidae


Soricomorpha
Soricidae

Soricidae

Soricidae


Xenarthra

The superorder Xenarthra includes extant tree sloths, armadillos, and anteaters as well as glyptodonts and ground sloths (which went extinct in the late Pleistocene). Xenarthra means “strange joint”. This refers to unique supplementary articulations present in the vertebral column of these mammals.

Glyptodontidae

Glyptodontidae

Glyptodontidae

Megalonychidae

Megalonychidae?

Megalonychidae


Non-mammalian Synapsids

The group Synapsida​ is the amniote lineage that leads to mammals. It includes all living mammals​,​ ​their closest extinct relatives, as well as more distant extinct relatives that look superficially quite different from mammals. The technical definition of Synapsida is all amniotes that are more closely related to mammals than to ​birds. ​The fossil animals that are synapsids but not mammals are called “non-mammalian synapsids” (these used to be somewhat confusingly called “mammal-like reptiles“). ​Some well-known examples of non-mammalian synapsids are Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, and Kannemeyeria.

Dicynodontidae

Dicynodontidae

Dicynodontidae

Kannemeyeriidae

Kannemeyeriidae

Kannemeyeriidae

Lystrosauridae

Lystrosauridae

Lystrosauridae

Sphenacodontidae

Sphenacodontidae

Sphenacodontidae

Edaphosauridae

Edaphosauridae

Edaphosauridae