''Arginbaatar'' is a genus of extinct

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

from the Lower

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. It was a member of the

Multituberculata Multituberculata (commonly known as multituberculates, named for the multiple tubercles of their teeth) is an extinct Order (biology), order of rodent-like mammals with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years. They first appeared in the M ...

, an order which is also extinct. It belongs to the family Arginbaataridae (Hahn & Hahn 1983). The genus ''Arginbaatar'' was named by Trofimov B.A. in 1980. ''Baatar'' is

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

for "hero" or "warrior." The primary species, ''Arginbaatar dmitrievae'', was also named by Trofimov. The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

remains date to the Aptian or Albian (Lower Cretaceous)

Dzunbain Formation The Dzunbain Formation (also known as Dzunbayn Formation) is a geological formation in Mongolia, dating to the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian).Shuvalov V. F. (1974) O geologicheskom stroenii i vozraste mestonakhozhdenii Khobur i Khuren-Dukh n ...

of Mongolia. This genus is the only known member of its family, which is thus monotypic. Some characteristics are "

Plagiaulacida Plagiaulacida is a group of extinct Multituberculata, multituberculate mammals. Multituberculates were among the most common mammals of the Mesozoic, "the age of the dinosaurs". Plagiaulacids are a paraphyletic grouping, containing all multituber ...

"-like, while others are more akin to the further derived suborder of

Cimolodonta Cimolodonta is a clade of Multituberculata, multituberculate mammals that lived from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. They probably lived something of a rodent-like existence until their ecological niche was assumed by true rodents. The more basal ...

. Exactly where it fits in is unclear. "This family shows a mixture of 'plagiaulacidan' and cimolodontan characters" (Kielan-Jaworowska & Hurum, 2001, p. 415).

References

* Trofimov (1980) ''Multituberculata and Symmetrodonta from the Lower Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia''. Trans. (Dokl) USSR Acad Sci, Earth Sci Sect 251. p. 188-191. * Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * Much of this information has been derived fro
MESOZOIC MAMMALS: Plagiaulacidae, Albionbaataridae, Eobaataridae & Arginbaataridae, an Internet directory.
Multituberculata Early Cretaceous mammals of Asia Extinct mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1980 Monotypic prehistoric mammal genera {{cretaceous-mammal-stub