''Djadochtatherium'' is a mammal

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

that lived in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

during the Upper

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

. It coexisted with some of the late

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

s. This animal was a member of the extinct order of

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

. It is within the suborder of

Cimolodonta Cimolodonta is a taxon of extinct mammals that lived from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. They were some of the more derived members of the extinct order Multituberculata. They probably lived something of a rodent-like existence until their ...

, and a member of the family

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 was named by G. G. Simpson in 1925, the name meaning "Djadokhta beast". The species ''Djadochtatherium matthewi'' was also named by G. G. Simpson in 1925 and has also been known as ''Catopsalis matthewi'' (Simpson, 1925). It has been found in the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous)-age Djadokhta and Goyot Formations of Mongolia. This was a relatively large Multituberculate, with a skull length of about 4.5 cm. It was originally diagnosed as a species within the North American genus of '' Catopsalis''.

References

* Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Hurum J. H. (2001), Phylogeny and Systematics of multituberculate mammals. ''Paleontology'' 44, p. 389–429. * Simpson (1925), ''A Mesozoic mammal skull from Mongolia''. ''American Museum Novitates'' 201, p. 1–11. * Much of this information has been derived fro

Mesozoic Mammals; Djadochtatherioidea, an Internet directory. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5285192 Cretaceous mammals Cimolodonts Fossils of Mongolia Prehistoric mammal genera