Pantodonts have been known since the Paleocene in North America and Asia. One of the earliest genera, Alcidedorbignya , was introduced in the Paleocene in South America. Pantodonts in the Lower Paleocene were comparable in size to the modern cat, but by the Lower Eocene they had become herbivorous animals the size of a cow - the largest land mammals of their time. In the middle of the Eocene, they suddenly and rapidly disappear.
In the past, the species that are now joining the pantodont suborder included the amblypods along with dinocerates and xenungules . Later, such a classification was recognized as incorrect, and these species were divided into three different groups. Perhaps dinocerates are the closest relatives of pantodonts.
The relationship of pantodonts with modern carnivores and pangolins is practically unquestionable.
Classification
According to the Paleobiology Database website, as of August 2018, the following extinct families are included in the suborder [2] :
- Family Alcidedorbignyidae de Muizon & Marshall, 1992 (1st genus)
- Family Archaeolambdidae Flerov, 1952 (1st genus)
- Family Barylambdidae Patterson, 1939 (2 genera)
- Family Bemalambdidae Chow et al. 1973 (2 genera)
- Family Coryphodontidae Marsh, 1876 (6 genera)
- Family Pantolambdidae Cope, 1883 (or in the superfamily Pantolambdoidea, 2 genera)
- Family Wangliidae Van Valen, 1988 (1st genus)
- Genera incertae sedis (2 genera)
- Superfamily Pantolambdoidea Cope, 1883
- Family Cyriacotheriidae Rose & Krause, 1982 (2 genera)
- Family Pantolambdodontidae Granger & Gregory, 1934 (6 genera)
- Family Pastoralodontidae Chow & Qi, 1978 (3 genera)
- Family Titanoideidae Patterson, 1934 (1st genus)
