# Mesogaulus
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{{Short description|Extinct genus of mylagaulid rodent}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Miocene}}
| image = Mesogaulus ballensis.jpg
| image_caption = Mandible of ''M. ballensis''
| taxon = Mesogaulus
| authority = Riggs, 1899
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = * ''M.ballensis'' (Matthew, 1902)
* ''M. paniensis'' (Riggs, 1899)
| synonyms = ''Mylagaulus paniensis''
}}
'''''Mesogaulus''''' is a [genus](/source/genus) of [mylagaulid](/source/Mylagaulidae) [rodent](/source/rodent) from [Miocene](/source/Miocene) [North America](/source/North_America).[{{Cite web |title=Mindat.org |url=https://www.mindat.org/taxon-9246022.html |access-date=2025-10-24 |website=www.mindat.org}}]
== Description ==
''Mesogaulus'' is very basal [morphologically](/source/Morphology_(biology)), lacking horns of later mylagaulids like ''[Ceratogaulus](/source/Ceratogaulus)''. The genus also has large fourth [premolar](/source/premolar)s and [hypsodont](/source/hypsodont) teeth, though not to the extremes of later mylagaulids. The first [molar](/source/Molar_(tooth)) is elongated, whilst the third is more rotund.[{{Cite book |last1=Field Columbian Museum. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21349 |title=Publication. Field Columbian Museum. Geological series |last2=Museum |first2=Field Columbian |last3=History |first3=Field Museum of Natural |date=1899 |publisher=The Museum |volume=v.1:no.4 (1899) |location=Chicago, U.S.A}}] Similar to other members of their clade, ''Mesogaulus'' has a low, broad [skull](/source/skull).[{{Cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Harold J. |last2=Gregory |first2=Joseph T. |date=1941 |title=Mesogaulus praecursor, a New Rodent from the Miocene of Nebraska |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=549–552 |jstor=1298811 |issn=0022-3360}}][{{Cite book |last1=Carnegie Museum |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/216920 |title=Annals of the Carnegie Museum |last2=Museum |first2=Carnegie |last3=History |first3=Carnegie Museum of Natural |date=2000 |publisher=Published by authority of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute |volume=v.69 (2000:Feb.-Nov.) |location=[Pittsburgh]}}]
== Classification ==
''Mesogaulus'' is currently grouped within [Mesogaulinae](/source/Mesogaulinae), a potentially [paraphyletic](/source/Paraphyly) [subfamily](/source/subfamily)[{{Cite journal |last1=Lu |first1=Xiaoyu |last2=Ni |first2=Xijun |last3=Li |first3=Lüzhou |last4=Li |first4=Qiang |date=2016-08-03 |title=Two New Mylagaulid Rodents from the Early Miocene of China |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=8 |article-number=e0159445 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0159445 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4972310 |pmid=27486803 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1159445L }}] within Mylagaulidae containing the more basal members of the group.[{{Cite journal |last=Hopkins |first=Samantha S. B. |date=2005-08-22 |title=The evolution of fossoriality and the adaptive role of horns in the Mylagaulidae (Mammalia: Rodentia) |journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences |volume=272 |issue=1573 |pages=1705–1713 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3171 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=1559849 |pmid=16087426}}] It has been suggested historically that ''Mesogaulus'' was ancestral to the later [mylagaulines](/source/Mylagaulidae),