Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
291 / Cenozoic
Leptictidium
Leptictidium auderiense
Long hind legs and a balancing tail powered a distinctive hopping gait through the forest floor.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 47 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Eocene
- Geographic range
- Subtropical lake forest · Messel, Germany
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Leptictidium?
Leptictidium (Leptictidium auderiense) was an extinct organism known from About 47 million years ago, with a range in Subtropical lake forest · Messel, Germany.
Life and ecology
Leptictidium was a small insect-eating mammal that moved bipedally and searched leaf litter for arthropods and small vertebrates.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Leptictidium disappear?
Eocene cooling and changing European forests are possible context, but they do not demonstrate why this specialized lineage disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Leptictidium?
Messel skeletons preserve body outlines and stomach contents, directly recording posture and diet.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS