Epoicotheriidae

Epoicotheriidae ("strange beasts") is an extinct paraphyletic family of insectivorous placental mammals within extinct order Palaeanodonta, that lived in North America, Asia and Europe from the late Paleocene to early Oligocene. Epoicotheriids were fossorial mammals. Late Eocene/early Oligocene genera were highly specialized animals that were convergent with the talpids, golden moles and marsupial mole in the structure of their skulls and forelimbs, and would have had a similar lifestyle as subterranean burrowers.

Taxonomy
Epoicotheriidae was named by Simpson in 1927. It was assigned to the Palaeanodonta by Rose (1978) and Carroll (1988).

Classification

 * Family: †Epoicotheriidae (paraphyletic family) (Simpson, 1927)
 * Genus: †Alocodontulum (Rose, 1978)
 * †Alocodontulum atopum (Rose, 1977)
 * Genus: †Amelotabes (Rose, 1978)
 * †Amelotabes simpsoni (Rose, 1978)
 * Genus: †Auroratherium (Tong & Wang, 1997)
 * †Auroratherium sinense (Tong & Wang, 1997)
 * Genus: †Dipassalus (Rose, 1991)
 * †Dipassalus oryctes (Rose, 1991)
 * Genus: †Tubulodon (Jepsen, 1932)
 * †Tubulodon taylori (Jepsen, 1932)
 * Subfamily: †Epoicotheriinae (paraphyletic subfamily) (Simpson, 1927)
 * Genus: †Pentapassalus (Gazin, 1952)
 * †Pentapassalus pearcei (Gazin, 1952)
 * †Pentapassalus woodi (Guthrie, 1967)
 * Genus: †Tetrapassalus (Simpson, 1959)
 * †Tetrapassalus mckennai (Simpson, 1959)
 * †Tetrapassalus proius (West, 1973)
 * †Tetrapassalus sp. A [AMNH 10215] (Rose, 1978)
 * †Tetrapassalus sp. B (Robinson, 1963)
 * (unranked): †Epoicotherium/Xenocranium clade
 * Genus: †Epoicotherium (Simpson, 1927)
 * †Epoicotherium unicum (Douglass, 1905)
 * Genus: †Molaetherium (Storch & Rummel, 1999)
 * †Molaetherium heissigi (Storch & Rummel, 1999)
 * Genus: †Xenocranium (Colbert, 1942)
 * †Xenocranium pileorivale (Colbert, 1942)

Phylogenetic tree
The phylogenetic relationships of family Epoicotheriidae are shown in the following cladogram: