Paranyctoides fossil map
Where fossils of Paranyctoides have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 75 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 75 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 | 93.9–66 million years ago (Turonian to Maastrichtian) |
| Periods | Cretaceous |
| Named by | Fox 1979 |
| Fossil records | 40 occurrences at 12 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | United States, Uzbekistan, Canada |
| Rock formations | Wahweap, Judith River, Kaiparowits, Bissekty, Aitym, Oldman |
About Paranyctoides
Paranyctoides is an extinct genus of early eutherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of North America and possibly Asia. It was named in 1979 by Fox for tooth and jaw material from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, which he named Paranyctoides sternbergi. Fox then named the second species P. maleficus for material from the older Milk River Formation. The species P. megakeros was named by Lillegraven and McKenna in 1986 from the "Mesaverde" Formation of Wyoming, and indeterminate species of Paranyctoides have been identified from the Kaiparowits, Wahweap, Kirtland, Hell Creek and Lance Formations of western North America. Material from the Maastrichtian Hell Creek and Lance Formations, as well as P. megakeros, have since been identified as Alostera saskatchewanensis, limiting Paranyctoides to the Santonian to Campanian in North America. In 2013 Averianov and Archibald considered P. maleficus a synonym of P. sternbergi, though this was not supported by Montellano-Ballesteros and colleagues the same year.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Paranyctoides (revision 1342237920), 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: Q30894951.
