May 18, 2017
During an expedition to the
Krasnoyarsk Territory, scientists from Tomsk State University and St.
Petersburg State University (TSU and SPBU), discovered the remains of a
previously unknown mammal, the baidabatyr.
It is classified among
multituberculates, one of the ancient taxa of mammals of the Middle Jurassic.
The name derives from the structure of its teeth. These animals appeared in the Jurassic
period and survived the mass
extinction of species at the
end of the Cretaceous. Some species of multituberculates survived into the
Paleogene. Thus, this clade/group has existed for about 150 million years.
"Baidabatyr is a
multituberculate mammal. We found only one tooth, and immediately realized that
the characteristic number and location of the tubercles indicates that this is
a species previously unknown to science. This is an important find for Western Siberia,"
said Stepan Ivantsov, a TSU paleontologist.
He clarified that there are no
present representatives of this order—they died out about 20 million years ago.
"Judging by the structure of
the tooth, it was a herbivorous animal, and probably ate seeds. The size of the
tooth is a couple of millimeters, which means that the animal was the size of a
hamster or slightly larger. The name was composed of the words 'bidarka'
(kayak)—because the site of the find can be reached only by kayak—and 'batyr,'
which means 'hero,' in Turkish. The first representatives of this taxon were
found in Mongolia, and the name of most species traditionally includes the
Mongolian word 'baatar.' We decided to name it in Turkish, because it is one of
the local languages," said Stepan Ivantsov.
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