Leptictidium

Leptictidium Temporal range: Early to Late Eocene, 50–35 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil L. auderiense skeleton, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	†Leptictida
Family:	†Pseudorhyncocyonidae
Genus:	†Leptictidium Tobien, 1962
Type species
†Leptictidium auderiense Tobien, 1962
Species
L. auderiense Tobien, 1962 L. nasutum Lister & Storch, 1985 L. tobieni Koenigswald & Storch, 1987 L. ginsburgi Mathis, 1989 L. sigei Mathis, 1989 L. listeri Hooker, 2013 L. prouti Hooker, 2013 L. storchi Hooker, 2013

Leptictidium is an extinct genus of small mammals that were likely bipedal. Comprising eight species, they resembled today's bilbies, bandicoots, and elephant shrews, and occupied a similar niche. They are especially interesting for their combination of characteristics typical of primitive eutherians with highly specialized adaptations, such as powerful hind legs and a long tail which aided in locomotion. They were omnivorous, their diet a combination of insects, lizards, frogs, and small mammals. Leptictidium and other leptictids are not placentals, but are non-placental eutherians, although they are closely related to placental eutherians. They appeared in the Lower Eocene, a time of warm temperatures and high humidity, roughly fifty million years ago. Although they were widespread throughout Europe, they became extinct around thirty-five million years ago with no descendants,^[1] as they were adapted to live in forest ecosystems and were unable to adapt to the open plains of the Oligocene.