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''Mentoclaenodon'' is an extinct genus of arctocyonid ungulate mammals. ''Mentoclaenodon'' had large upper canines comparable to the "saber-teeth" of various Miocene and Pleistocene feliform saber-toothed cats. This genus and its sister-genus ''Anacodon'', and the oxyaenid ''Machaeroides ''were the first true mammals to develop saber-teeth. (The various saber-tooth gorgonopsian genera, such as ''Inostrancevia'' and ''Ruhuhucerberus'', are regarded as "stem-mammals" that are close relatives of true mammals). Fossils of ''Mentoclaenodon'' are found in late Paleocene-aged strata of Cernay, France, and in strata of Walbeck, Germany. The average estimated skull length is 15 cm. ''Mentoclaenodon'' is one of the largest European mammals during the Paleocene. It is also thought to be one of the earliest known Cenozoic-aged mammalian predators that would have preyed on other mammals. ''Mentoclaenodon ''and its ancestors reigned from the Cretaceous to the Paleocene. By the early Eocene the arctocyonids were supplanted by the hyaenodonts, mesonychians and the early carnivorans such as ''Miacis''. ==References== * The Book of Life. Stephen Jay Gould. John Barber. Peter Andrews.Norton, W.W.& Company,Inc. 2001 ISBN 0-393-32156-8 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mentoclaenodon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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