Mammal fossil from Mongolia

From PALAEOBLOG:

The Postcranial Skeleton of Catopsbaatar

Postcranial skeleton of multituberculate mammal Catopsbaatar. 2008. Jørn H. Hurum and Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53: 545-566. Download the PDF

Abstract [edit]: We describe an incomplete postcranial skeleton of Catopsbaatar catopsaloides from the late Campanian red beds of Hermiin Tsav I, in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. The studied skeleton contains some parts not preserved or incompletely known in other multituberculate genera, such as a long spinous process in a single lumbar vertebra, which together with long transverse processes preserved in Nemegtbaatar, might indicate that at least some multituberculates had jumping ability.

This specimen of an extinct mammal lineage lived in the late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs still ruled the earth.

Cretaceous Mongolian dinosaurs: here.

The sudden death of the herd in a mud trap provides a rare snapshot of social behavior. Composed entirely of juveniles of a single species of ornithomimid dinosaur (Sinornithomimus dongi), the herd suggests that immature individuals were left to fend for themselves when adults were preoccupied with nesting or brooding: here.

Related articles

• Dinosaurs…in Mongolia?
• Colorado man pleads guilty in Chinese fossil case
• The Power of Facebook Campaigns: The Mongolia Test
• Tyrannosaurus skull seized as man admits smuggling fossils into US
• What Do Dinosaur Fossils, Fish Bladders and Guns Have in Common?
• Debate over which mammals roamed with the dinosaurs
• Top Dinosaur Documentaries of All – Time (apparently the only edition)