Phylogeny and Evolutionary Relationships
Mesonychians were long considered to be creodonts but have now been removed from that order and placed in three families (Mesonychidae, Hapalodectidae, Triisodontidae), either within their own order, Mesonychia (or in older text, "Acreodi"), or within the order Condylarthra as part of the cohort or superorder Laurasiatheria. Nearly all mesonychids are, on average, larger than most of the Paleocene and Eocene creodonts and miacoid carnivorans.
The order is sometimes referred to by its older name "Acreodi." Technically speaking, the term "mesonychid" refers specifically only to the members of the family Mesonychidae, such as the species of the genus Mesonyx. However, as the order is also renamed for Mesonyx, the term "mesonychid" is now used to refer to members of the entire order Mesonychia and the species of other families within it.
Read more about this topic: Mesonychids
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