Palaeoryctidae ("ancient diggers") is an extinct family of non-specialized eutherian mammals from extinct order Palaeoryctida, that lived in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa from the late Cretaceous to the middle Eocene.

[4][5][6][7][8] From a near-complete skull of the genus Palaeoryctes found in New Mexico, it is known that palaeoryctids were small, shrew-like insectivores with an elongated snout similar to that of the leptictids.

[9] A 2024 study found shared cranial details between palaeoryctids and leptictids, suggesting a possible close relationship, plesiomorphic retentions, or convergent acquisitions.

While their dental morphology still indicate a mostly insectivorous diet, it, to some extent, also relate to Eocene carnivores such as creodonts.

[11][12] Palaeoryctidae was originally assigned to the now-abandoned grouping Insectivora by Sloan and Van Valen (1965), then to clade Proteutheria,[7] and more recently to Eutheria by Scott et al.