Bulganbaatar Explained

Bulganbaatar is an extinct genus of early mammals from the Upper Cretaceous.

It is a member of the extinct order Multituberculata. It lies within the suborder Cimolodonta and is a member of the superfamily Djadochtatherioidea. The genus Bulganbaatar was named by Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska in 1974 after the village of Bulgan situated near Bayn Dzak.^[1] It is one of many Cretaceous aged mammal discoveries made by Kielan-Jaworowska and co-workers from Central Asian sites. Kielan-Jaworowska considered B.nemegtbaatorides to be the ancestor to the genus Nemegtbaatar due to similarity but more derived teeth in the latter, hence the names.^[2] According to Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum, both Bulganbaatar and Nemegtbaatar are distinctive for exhibiting "elongation of the lastupper premolar and molars, and an increase in their cusp numbers."^[3]

Fossil remains of Bulganbaatar have been found in Upper Cretaceous-aged strata of the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia and Kazakhstan.^{[4] [5]} Their appearances range between 84 to 81 Million years ago, from the late Santonian to the early Campanian ages.^{[6] [7]}

References

• Averianov. A.O. . New Late Cretaceous mammals of southern Kazakhstan. 1997. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 42 . 2. 243–256.

• Web site: Dykes . Trevor . Mesozoic Mammals; Djadochtatherioidea, an internet directory . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20030421233707/http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/djado.htm . 21 April 2003 .
• Kielan-Jaworowska . Zofia . Multituberculate succession in the Late Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert (Mongolia) . 1974. Palaeontologica Polonica . 30. 23–44.
• Kielan-Jaworowska . Zofia . Hurum. J.H.. Phylogeny and Systematics of Multituberculate Mammals . 2001. Palaeontology . 44 . 3. 389–429. 10.1111/1475-4983.00185.
• Wilson . Gregory P. . Evans . Alistair R.. Corfe. Ian J.. Smits. Peter D.. Fortelius. Mikael. Jernvall. Jukka. Adaptive radiation of multituberculate mammals before the extinction of dinosaurs. 2012. Nature. 483. 457–460. 10.1038/nature10880.

Notes and References

1. Kielan-Jaworowska, 1974 p 31
2. Kielan-Jaworowska 1974, p 26, 37
3. Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum, 2001, p 390
4. Averianov 1997
5. Kielan-Jaworowska, 1974 p 31
6. Wilson et al 2012, Supplemental Table 3
7. Kielan-Jaworowska, 1974 p 31