Hapalodectes

{{short description|Extinct genus of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|61.1|37.2}} Late Paleocene to Middle Eocene{{Cite web|title=PBDB|url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=42906&is_real_user=1|access-date=2021-08-26|website=paleobiodb.org}}

| image = Hapalodectes IVPP.jpg

| image_caption = Skull (IVPP V12385) of H. hetangensis, Paleozoological Museum of China

| taxon = Hapalodectes

| authority = Matthew, 1909

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

}}

Hapalodectes (literal translation 'soft biter'; from {{langx|grc|ἁπαλός}} {{lang|grc-Latn|hapalos}} ('soft, tender') and {{lang|grc|δῆκτῆς}} {{lang|grc-Latn|dêktês}} ('biter')) is an extinct genus of otter-like mesonychians from the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene, some 55{{nbsp}}million years ago. Although the first fossils were found in the Eocene strata of Wyoming, the genus originated in Mongolia, as the oldest species is H. dux, which was found in Late Paleocene strata in the Naran Bulak Formation.{{cite journal|title=The Earliest Hapalodectes (Mesonychia, Mammalia) from the Paleocene of Mongolia|last=Lopatin|first=A. V.|journal=Paleontological Journal|volume=35|number=4|year=2001|pages=426–432|url=http://www.maik.ru/abstract/paleng/1/paleng4_1p426abs.htm|access-date=11 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172706/http://www.maik.ru/abstract/paleng/1/paleng4_1p426abs.htm|archive-date=2016-03-03}}

File:Hapalodectes restoration Stanton Fink 2.png

The genus was once suggested to be related to the Archaeoceti, such as Pakicetus, due to numerous similarities between the skull and tooth anatomies of the two genera. Now, however, Hapalodectes and other mesonychians are thought to be related to basal artiodactyls, while the Archaeoceti are now determined to be descended from more derived artiodactyls, like Indohyus, which are related to hippopotamuses and anthracotheres.{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}}

H. dux possessed distinct conules on its upper molars.{{Cite journal |last=Lopatin |first=A. V. |date=11 November 2024 |title=The skull of Hapalodectes (Hapalodectidae, Mesonychia) from the Paleocene of Mongolia |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S0012496624600453 |journal=Doklady Biological Sciences |language=en |doi=10.1134/S0012496624600453 |issn=0012-4966 |access-date=21 November 2024 |via=Springer Nature Link}}