Essonodon

Essonodon Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Multituberculata
Family:	†Cimolomyidae
Genus:	†Essonodon
Species:	†E. browni
Binomial name
†Essonodon browni Simpson, 1927

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.

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).

The species: Essonodon browni has also partly been known as Cimolodon nitidus (Marsh 1889).

Place: Hell Creek, Montana & San Juan Basin, New Mexico & Wyoming (USA)
Age: Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous)
This species was a large multituberculate that weighed in at over 2.5 kilograms. Further material has been reported from the Frenchman Formation of Canada.

References

• 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.