Bulganbaatar Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | †Multituberculata |
Superfamily: | †Djadochtatherioidea |
Genus: | †Bulganbaatar Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, 1974 |
Species | |
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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 last upper 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]