| Nemegtbaatar | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||
|
N. gobiensis | ||||||||||||
| Ref. |
Nemegtbaatar is a Mongolian mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous. It existed in the company of much larger dinosaurs. This critter was a member of the extinct order of Multituberculata.
For those of a technical inclination, it's within the suborder of Cimolodonta, and a member of the superfamily Djadochtatherioidea.
Genus: Nemegtbaatar Kielan-Jaworowska Z, 1974
Species: Nemegtbaatar gobiensis Kielan-Jaworowska Z, 1974
Place: Nemegt Formation
Country: Mongolia
Age: Campanian (late?), Upper Cretaceous
Remarks: "Compared to all extant mammals the braincase in Nemegtbaatar and Chulsanbaatar is primitive…" (Hurum, 1998). I cite this quotation for two reasons. Firstly, even I can understand what it means. Secondly, all extant mammals includes the monotremes such as the duck-billed platypus, despite its residual egg-laying habit.
Nemegtbaatar was a relatively large member of Djadochtatherioidea, with a skull length of up to 4,5cm. At least one specimen is in the Institute of Paleobiology collection of the Polish Academy of Science at Warsaw, (ZPAL MgM-1/76).
The quotation comes from the abstract of Hurum (1998), [1] The braincase of two Late Cretaceous Asian multituberculates studied by serial sections. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 43(1), p 21-52.
Reference: Kielan-Jaworowska (1974), Multituberculate succession in the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia). Palaeontologica Polonica, 30, p.23-44.
Page references: Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals. Paleontology 44, p.389-429.
(This information has been derived from [1] MESOZOIC MAMMALS; Djadochtatherioidea, an internet directory. As that's my webpage, there are no issues of copyright.)