Editing Mesodma (section)

{{Short description|Extinct family of mammals}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|83.6|56}} <small>Possible [[Cenomanian]] record</small>
| image = MesodmaformosalifereconJF.png
| image_caption = life restoration
| taxon = Mesodma
| authority = 
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = * ''M. ambigua''
* ''M. formosa''
* ''M. hensleighi''
* ''M. pygmaea''
* ''M. senecta''
* ''M. thompsoni''
}}

'''''Mesodma''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[mammal]], a member of the extinct order [[Multituberculata]] within the suborder [[Cimolodonta]], family [[Neoplagiaulacidae]]. It lived during the upper [[Cretaceous]] and [[Paleocene]] [[Period (geology)|Periods]] of what is now [[North America]]. The earliest definitive record is from the late [[Santonian]] stage strata of the [[Straight Cliffs Formation]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eaton |first1=Jeffrey G. |title=Santonian (late Cretaceous) mammals from the John Henry Member of the Straight Cliffs Formation, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=12 June 2006 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=446–460 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[446:SLCMFT]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=130526200 }}</ref> A single [[premolar]] tooth from the lower [[Cenomanian]] stage strata of the [[Cedar Mountain Formation]] has been tentatively assigned to this genus based on its similarity, but its describers noted that it is unlikely that ''Mesodma'' lived during that time.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eaton |first1=Jeffrey G. |last2=Cifelli|first2=Richard L.|year=2001|title=Multituberculate mammals from near the Early-Late Cretaceous boundary, Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah |journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |volume=46|issue=4|pages=453–518|s2cid=129909933}}</ref>