''Kryptobaatar'', also known as ''Gobibaatar'' or ''Tugrigbaatar'', is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

ian

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

dating from the Upper

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 ...

Period and identified in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. This animal was a member of the extinct

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

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 ...

within the

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

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 ...

, and was a member of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Djadochtatheriidae Djadochtatheriidae is a family of fossil mammals within the extinct order Multituberculata. Remains are known from the Upper Cretaceous of Central Asia. These animals lived during the Mesozoic, also known as the "age of the dinosaurs". This famil ...

. It lived contemporaneously with some of the

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s. Its

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

had a length of perhaps 3 cm. The generic name ''Kryptobaatar'' is derived from Greek : ''kruptós'', "hidden," (alludes to the ventral position of infraorbital foramen) and Mongolian : ''baatar'', "hero" (alludes to the name of the capital of Mongolia,

Ulan Baatar Ulan may refer to: Places *Ulan, New South Wales, a town in Australia *Ulan County, in Qinghai Province, China *Ulan District, eastern Kazakhstan *Ulan, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province People * Ulan, politician from Inner Mongolia, China Mil ...

). The specific name ''dashzevegi'' is named in honour of Mongolian palaeontologist Demberelyin Dashzeveg. The derivation of its synonym ''Gobibaatar parvus'' is

Gobi The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

(occurring in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia) and baatar ("a hero", the same as ''Kryptobaatar''). Another synonym ''Tugrigbaatar saichanensis'' is a generic name derived from the Toogreeg and Ulan Baatar, and a specific name derived from a Gurvan Saykhan mountain range.

Species identified

* ''Kryptobaatar dashzevegi'' . At

Djadokhta Formation The Djadochta formation (sometimes transcribed and also known as Djadokhta, Djadokata, or Dzhadokhtskaya) is a highly fossiliferous geological formation in Central Asia, Gobi Desert, dating from the Late Cretaceous period, about 75 million ...

, Ukhaa Tolgod, Tögrög Shiree and Bayan Zag or

Baruungoyot Formation The Baruungoyot Formation (also known as Barun Goyot) is a geological formation dating to the Late Cretaceous Period. It is located within and is widely represented in the Gobi Desert Basin, in the Ömnögovi Province of Mongolia. Description ...

, Red beds of Hermiin Tsav,

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 ...

. Stage: lower

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cret ...

. The skull has a length of perhaps 3 cm. The front teeth look impressively sharp and not much like those of a strict vegetarian. ''Gobibaatar parvus'' and ''Tugrigbaatar saichanensis'' are now treated as synonyms of ''K. dashzevegi'' by Kielan-Jaworowska ''et al.'' (2003). * ''Kryptobaatar mandahuensis'' . At

Bayan Mandahu The Bayan Mandahu Formation (also known as Wulansuhai Formation or Wuliangsuhai Formation) is a geological unit of "redbeds" located near the village of Bayan Mandahu in Inner Mongolia, China, in the Gobi Desert. It dates from the late Cretaceous ...

Formation, Urad Houqi Banner,

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Based on several well-preserved skulls. This location is about the same stage as the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia, Campanian (Upper Cretaceous).

Biology

''Kryptobaatar'' was a hopping species, similar to a modern

Jerboa Jerboas () are the members of the family Dipodidae. They are hopping desert rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia. They tend to live in hot deserts. When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are preyed on by little owls (''A ...

. It is thought to have been a carnivory-oriented omnivore.

Notes

References

* Kielan-Jaworowska Z & Hurum JH (2001), "Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals". ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389-429. * McKenna MC & Bell SK, (1997), Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press. * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2001237 Cimolodonta Cretaceous mammals Cretaceous mammals of Asia Djadochta fauna Prehistoric mammal genera