Eobaataridae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 preserved ...

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

within the order

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 ...

. Remains are known from the Lower

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 th ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. They are among the most derived representatives of the informal suborder "

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

", and closely related to

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 ecolo ...

. Most eobaatarids are only known from isolated teeth, though several reasonably complete members are known, including ''

Sinobaatar ''Sinobaatar'' is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of China. It is categorized within the also extinct order Multituberculata and among these it belongs to the plagiaulacid lineage (a possible infraorder). ''Sinobaatar'' was a ...

'' and ''

Jeholbaatar Eobaataridae is a family of fossil mammals within the order Multituberculata. Remains are known from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. They are among the most derived representatives of the informal suborder "Plagiaulacida", and closely re ...

''. The body of ''Sinobaatar'' is generalised, while ''Jeholbaatar'' displays clear adaptations for scansoriality (climbing) due to its elongated digits. Due to the morphology of the cheek teeth, ''

Eobaatar ''Eobaatar'' is a genus of extinct mammal from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia, Spain and England. A member of the also extinct order Multituberculata, it lies within the suborder Plagiaulacida and family Eobaataridae. The genus ''Eobaatar'' w ...

'' and ''Jeholbaatar'' are inferred to be omnivorous, likely feeding on plants and invertebrates. ''

Indobaatar Eobaataridae is a family of fossil mammals within the order Multituberculata. Remains are known from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. They are among the most derived representatives of the informal suborder "Plagiaulacida", and closely re ...

'' from the Early Jurassic

Kota Formation The Kota Formation is a geological formation in India. The precise age of Kota Formation are uncertain, but it dates from the Early to Middle Jurassic, and is split into a Lower Member and Upper Member.Prasad GVR, and Manhas BK. 2007A new docodon ...

has been suggested to be the earliest known multituberculate, let alone the earliest eobaatarid, and may stretch the eobaatarid-cimolodontan group much earlier than previously thought. However its referral to the family has been considered questionable by other scholars. Fossils of ''Jeholbaatar kielanae'' seem to show that multituberculates independently acquired a

middle ear The middle ear is the portion of the ear medial to the eardrum, and distal to the oval window of the cochlea (of the inner ear). The mammalian middle ear contains three ossicles, which transfer the vibrations of the eardrum into waves in the ...

from other mammal groups.

Etymology

The name "Eobaatar" (from ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

"ἠώς"= dawn and Mongolian "baatar"= hero) means "dawn hero".

Notes

References

* Kielan-Jaworowska, Dashzeveg & Trofimov (1987), "Early Cretaceous multituberculates from Mongolia and a comparison with Late Jurassic forms". ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'' 32, p. 3-47. *

External links

* Most of this information has been derived fro
MESOZOIC MAMMALS: Plagiaulacidae, Albionbaataridae, Eobaataridae & Arginbaataridae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2005380 Multituberculates Early Cretaceous extinctions Prehistoric mammal families