Catopsbaatar

Catopsbaatar is a genus of multituberculate, an extinct order of rodent-like mammals. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 72-million years ago. The word cat is derived from the Greek koptos ; ba is Mongolian for “hero” and refers to the animal’s similarity to the Catopsali genus.

About Catopsbaatar in brief

Catopsbaatar is a genus of multituberculate, an extinct order of rodent-like mammals. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 72 million years ago. The first fossils were collected in the early 1970s, and the animal was named as a new species of the genus Djadochtatherium in 1974, D. catopsaloides. The species was moved to the genus Catopsalis in 1979, and received its own genus in 1994. Five skulls, one molar, and one skeleton with a skull are known; the last is the genus’ most complete specimen. Multituberculates are thought to have had a sprawling posture, and Catopsbaatars may have been able to jump. The word cat is derived from the Greek koptos ; ba is Mongolian for “hero” and refers to the animal’s similarity to the Catopsali genus. It is the only member of the family Djadoschtatheriidae, which includes the platypus, echidna, and many other species of Mesozoic mammals. The spurs on its ankles, like those of the male platypuses, may have protected it from predators like theropod dinosaurs and other predators. The skull was heavy-set and wide, with the zygomatic arches strongly expanded to the sides. It had semicircular ridges on the side of the skull, to which the jaw muscles were attached.

The incisors were well adapted for gnawing hard seeds, using a backwards chewing stroke. The pelvic bones were not fused to each other, and there was no evidence of a venom canal. It was omnivorous, and may have given live birth, and had hair, which indicates they were homeothermic. The animal is known from the Barun Goyot Formation, which is thought to be about 72-million years old. The specimen, collected at the Hermiin Tsav I locality, is an almost-complete skull of a juvenile with portions of the cranium damaged. About 100 specimens, recovered from four localities, are housed at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Two-thirds of the collected specimens were multituberculationates: an extinct Order of mammals with rodent- like dentition, named for the numerous cusps on their molars. The other specimens were a damaged skull missing lower jaws, a skull with partial lower jaws, and a molar with a fragment of jaw. Kielan-Jaworowska and American palaeontologist Robert E. Sloan considered the genus Copsalis a junior synonym of Catopsalon, and created the new combination Copsalonides in 1979. In 1994, CatopsBAatar was given its own monotypic genus, which consists of five skulls, a skeleton, and a partial lower jaw with a partial jaw.

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