Maelestes
| Maelestes Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cimolesta |
| Suborder: | Didelphodonta |
| Family: | Cimolestidae |
| Genus: | Maelestes Wible et al., 2007 |
| Species: | M. gobiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Maelestes gobiensis Wible et al., 2007 | |
Maelestes 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 non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 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.