Cimolestes Fossil Tooth Primitive Rodent Prehistoric Mammal Cretaceous Mesozoic Collection

Rare ! Primitive Rodent Fossil Incisor Tooth mm 5 x 1 Cimolestes (Altacreodus) magnus Prehistoric Extinct Mammals Cimolestids Teniodonts Cretaceous Mesozoic Collecting Paleontology Museum.

Remarkable collectible fossil specimen that is difficult to find, in good condition, with evident appreciable details of the anterior and posterior structure of the tooth surface. No restored at all. Only a piece, as in photos.

Cimolestes ("bug thief") is a genus of small non placental basal euterium mammals (Mammalia, Cimolesta, Cimolestidae). Their fossils were found in North America, where they appeared for the first time during the Late Cretaceous period, and then died out at the beginning of the Paleocene.
They are considered members of the order Cimolesta (which takes its name from the genus), outside the actual placental mammals. Initially the Cimolestiae were considered an ancestral group from which the order of the Carnivora and the extinct of the Creodonta originated. Cimolestes in particular derives directly from the Taeniodonta ("banded teeth") an extinct group of Cimolesta mammals known from the Paleocene to the Eocene. The Taeniodonta evolved rapidly into highly specialized digging animals, and varied greatly in size, from the size of rats to large species such as a bear. Later the species developed prominent front teeth and huge claws for digging and rooting. The scarcity of Taeniodonta fossils can be explained by the fact that these animals probably lived in arid climates that compromised their fossilization.
Three species of Cimolestes, C. magnus, C. cerberoides and C. propalaeoryctes, have been reassigned respectively to their own genera, Altacreodus, Ambilestes and Scollardius.