Palaeanodonta

Palaeanodonta
Temporal range: Middle Paleocene – Early Oligocene
From top to bottom: Ernanodon antelios,
Xenocranium pileorivale and
Metacheiromys marshi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Mirorder: Ferae
Clade: Pholidotamorpha
Order: Palaeanodonta
Matthew, 1918
Families and genera
Synonyms
list of synonyms:
  • Ernodonta (Ding, 1987)
  • Ernanodonta (Ding, 1987)
  • Palaeanodontidae (Carroll, 1988)
  • Palaeanodontiformes (Kinman, 1994)
  • Palaenodonta (Rose, 2008)
  • Palaenodontina (Pearse, 1936)

Palaeanodonta ("ancient toothless animals") is an extinct order of placental mammals in the clade Pholidotamorpha. They were insectivorous (myrmecophagous), fossorial or semifossorial, and lived from the middle Paleocene to early Oligocene in North America, Europe and Asia. While the taxonomic grouping of Palaeanodonta has been debated, it is widely thought that they are a sister group to pangolins.