Eoconodon

{{Short description|Extinct genus of mammal}}

{{more citations needed|date=June 2010}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Paleocene}}

| image = Eoconodon coryphaeus skull.jpg

| image_caption = Eoconodon coryphaeus skull, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

| image2 = Eoconodon coryphaeusDB224.jpg

| image2_caption = Life reconstruction of Eoconodon coryphaeus

| taxon = Eoconodon

| authority = Matthew & Granger, 1921

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

| type_species = †Eoconodon coryphaeus

| type_species_authority = (Cope, 1885)

}}

Eoconodon is an extinct genus of triisodontid mesonychian that existed during the early Paleocene of North America.{{Cite journal|url =http://palaeo-electronica.org/2011_3/3_clemens/3_clemens.pdf |title = Eoconodon ("Triisodontidae," Mammalia) from the Early Paleocene (Puercan) of northeastern Montana, USA|last = Clemens|first = William A.|date = 2011|journal = Palaeontologia Electronica|volume =14 }} Characteristics of the genus include massive jaws, blunt builds, and strong canine teeth.{{cite journal|last1=Clemens|first1=William A.|last2=Williamson|first2=Thomas E.|title=A new species of Eoconodon (Triisodontidae, Mammalia) from the San Juan Basin, New Mexico|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|date=2005|volume=25|issue=1|pages=208–213|doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0208:ANSOET]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=86047162 }}

File:Eoconodon coryphaeus jaw.jpg

Eoconodon is considered to be a giant for mammals during the Early Paleocene, with E. coryphaeus weighing up to {{convert|47|kg|lb}}.{{Cite journal|author1=T. R. Lyson |author2=I. M. Miller |author3=A. D. Bercovici |author4=K. Weissenburger |author5=A. J. Fuentes |author6=W. C. Clyde |author7=J. W. Hagadorn |author8=M. J. Butrim |author9=K. R. Johnson |author10=R. F. Fleming |author11=R. S. Barclay |author12=S. A. Maccracken |author13=B. Lloyd |author14=G. P. Wilson |author15=D. W. Krause |author16=S. G. B. Chester |date=October 2019 |title=Exceptional continental record of biotic recovery after the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction |journal=Science |volume=366 |issue=6468 |pages=977–983 |doi=10.1126/science.aay2268 |pmid=31649141 |s2cid=204883579 |doi-access=free }}