Gypsonictops fossil map
Where fossils of Gypsonictops have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 66 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 66 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 83.6–66 million years ago (Campanian to Maastrichtian) |
| Periods | Cretaceous |
| Family | Gypsonictopidae |
| Named by | Simpson 1927 |
| Fossil records | 188 occurrences at 61 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | United States, Canada |
| Rock formations | Hell Creek, Lance, Scollard, Judith River, Oldman, txn:40254 |
About Gypsonictops
Gypsonictops is an extinct genus of leptictidan mammals of the family Gypsonictopidae, which was described in 1927 by George Gaylord Simpson. Species in this genus were small mammals and the first representatives of the order Leptictida, that appeared during the Upper Cretaceous.
The genus is thought to have gone extinct before the Cenozoic began, but there are indications that it may have survived into the early Paleocene. Fossils have been found in the United States, Belgium, and Uzbekistan.
Like Cimolestes or Daulestes, it is possible that they had some distant relationship with the ungulates. It is one of the few eutherians that existed in North America during the Campanian, a period in which the multituberculates and the metatherians were the dominant ones on the continent.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Gypsonictops (revision 1372181105), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q9001635.
