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Mesonychidae (meaning "middle Claw") is an extinct family of small to large-sized omnivorous-carnivore Mammal. They were Endemism to North America and Eurasia during the Early Paleocene to the Early Oligocene, and were the earliest group of large carnivorous mammals in Asia. Once considered a Sister group to Artiodactyla, recent evidence now suggests no close connection to any living mammal. Mesonychid taxonomy has long been disputed and they have captured popular imagination as "Wolf on Hoof", Animal that combine features of both Ungulate and Carnivore. Skull and Tooth have similar features to early Whale, and the family was long thought to be the ancestors of Cetacea. Recent fossil discoveries have overturned this idea; the consensus is that whales are highly derived artiodactyls. Some researchers now consider the family a sister group either to whales or to artiodactyls, close relatives rather than direct ancestors. Other studies define Mesonychia as basal to all ungulates, occupying a position between Perissodactyla and Ferae. In this case, the resemblances to early whales would be due to convergent evolution among ungulate-like Herbivore that developed adaptations related to hunting or eating meat.
Mesonychids probably originated in Asia, where the most primitive mesonychid, Yantanglestes, is known from the early Paleocene. They were also most diverse in Asia where they occur in all major Paleocene . Since other such as the and Carnivora were either rare or absent in these animal communities, mesonychids most likely dominated the large predator Ecological niche in the Paleocene of Asia. Throughout the Paleocene and Eocene, several genera, including Dissacus, Pachyaena and Mesonyx would radiate out from their ancestral home in Asia and into Europe and North America, where they would give rise to new mesonychid genera. These animals would have migrated to North America via the Bering land bridge.
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