Nemegtbaatar

Nemegtbaatar
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Multituberculata
Superfamily: Djadochtatherioidea
Genus: Nemegtbaatar
Species: N. gobiensis
Binomial name
Nemegtbaatar gobiensis
Kielan-Jaworowska Z., 1974

Nemegtbaatar is a genus of mammal from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It existed in the company of much larger dinosaurs, found together in the Nemegt Basin. This creature was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata. It is within the suborder Cimolodonta and is a member of the superfamily Djadochtatherioidea.

The genus Nemegtbaatar (Kielan-Jaworowska Z., 1974) is known by the species Nemegtbaatar gobiensis found in the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia. "Compared to all extant mammals, the braincase in Nemegtbaatar and Chulsanbaatar is primitive." (Hurum, 1998). "All extant mammals" includes 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 4.5 cm. At least one specimen is in the Institute of Paleobiology collection of the Polish Academy of Science at Warsaw, (ZPAL MgM-1/76).

References

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