''Kielanobaatar'' is an extinct
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
albionbaatarid multituberculate
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 ...
which existed in Shahai and Fuxin formations, northeastern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, during the early
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 ...
(
Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...
/
Albian
The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...
age). It was first named by Nao Kusuhashi, Yaoming Hu, Yuanqing Wang, Takeshi Setoguchi and Hiroshige Marsuoka in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
and the type species is ''Kielanobaatar badaohaoensis'', named after Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, a leading specialist on Mesozoic mammals. It is known from a small fragment of the left lower jaw, including the third and fourth premolars, as well as two upper premolars. ''Kielanobaatar'' is the first record of an Asian albionbaatarid multituberculate. Since the albionbaataridae is known primarily from Europe, this discovery supports the idea of faunal exchange of terrestrial vertebrates between Europe and Asia in the Early Cretaceous.
References
Cretaceous mammals
Multituberculates
Fossil taxa described in 2010
Fossils of China
Prehistoric mammal genera
{{cretaceous-mammal-stub