Catopsbaatar

Taxobox
name = "Catopsbaatar"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Multituberculata
familia = Djadochtatheriidae
genus = "Catopsbaatar"
species = "C. catopsaloides"
binomial = "Catopsbaatar catopsaloides"
binomial_authority = Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, 1974

"Catopsbaatar" is an extinct genus of mammal that lived in Mongolia during the Upper Cretaceous Period. It coexisted with some of the late dinosaurs. This animal was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata within the Suborder Cimolodonta and family Djadochtatheriidae.

The genus "Catopsbaatar" was named by Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska in 1974 and 1994 based on a single species. "One of the most characteristic features of "Catopsbaatar" (which differentiates it not only from "Kryptobaatar" but from all the djadochtatherioids in which the zygomatic ridges are known), is a very deep anterior zygomatic ridge, and a small medial zygomatic ridge, the latter forming about a quarter of a circle and adhering the anterior one from behind," (Kielan-Jaworowska et al, 2002).

The species "Catopsbaatar catopsaloides" has also been known as "Catopsalis catopsaloides" and "Djadochtatherium catopsaloides" (Kielan-Jaworowska 1974). Fossil remains were found in the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous)-age strata of Hermiin Tsav (Khermeen Tsav) in Mongolia. This was originally regarded as a species of "Djadochtatherium". It also spent a while assigned to the North American genus "Catopsalis" (Cope 1882), courtesy of an interpretation in 1979 by Kielan-Jaworowska and Sloan. The original material consisted of three skulls, the most complete of which was juvenile. Subsequently, a fourth specimen was identified and then an even more complete example came to light in 1999, along with some postcranial skeleton. This belonged to an elderly animal. It has been provisionally considered by Kielan-Jaworowska but has yet to be fully described. With a skull length of around 6 cm, this was a pretty large multituberculate.

References

* Kielan-Jaworowska (1974), "Multituberculate succession in the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia). in Results of the Polish-Mongolian Palaeont. Expeditions - Part V". "Palaeontologica Polonica" 30, p.23-43.
* Kielan-Jaworowska & Sloan (1979), "Catopsalis" (Multituberculata) from Asia and North America and the problem of taeniolabidid dispersal in the Late Cretaceous". "Acta Paleontologica Polonica" 24, p.187-197.
*Kielan-Jaworowska (1994), "A new generic name for the multituberculate mammal "Djadochtatherium" catopsaloides". "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" 39, p.134-136.
* Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". "Paleontology" 44, p.389-429.
*Kielan-Jaworowska Z, Hurum JH, Currie PJ, & Barsbold R (2002), "New data on anatomy of the Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammal "Catopsbaatar". "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" 47(3), p.557-560.
*Much of this information has been derived from [http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/djado.htm] MESOZOIC MAMMALS: Djadochtatherioidea, an Internet directory.