- Maelestes
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Maelestes
Temporal range: Late CretaceousScientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cimolesta Suborder: Didelphodonta Family: Cimolestidae Genus: Maelestes
Wible et al., 2007Species: M. gobiensis Binomial name Maelestes gobiensis
Wible et al., 2007Maelestes is a prehistoric shrew-like mammal discovered in 1997 in the Gobi Desert. The animal lived in the late Cretaceous Period, around 71-75 million years ago, and was a contemporary of dinosaurs such as Velociraptor and Oviraptor. According to some scientists, the discovery and analysis of this species suggests that true placental mammals appeared near the time the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, not much earlier in the Cretaceous as thought by others.[1]
References
- ^ Wible, J.R., G.W. Rougier, M.J. Novacek, and R.J. Asher. (2007). "Cretaceous eutherians and Laurasian origin for placental mammals near the K/T boundary." Nature, 447: 1003-1006.
External links
- Dinos' demise spurred rise of the mammals, new fossil suggests, Yahoo! News
- Mammals burst on the scene after dinosaurs' exit, Yahoo! News
- Placental Mammals Originated On Earth 65 Million Years Ago, Researchers Assert by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
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