Buginbaatar
Encyclopedia
Buginbaatar is an extinct genus of mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

 from the Upper Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

. It is a member of the extinct order Multituberculata
Multituberculata
The Multituberculata were a group of rodent-like mammals that existed for approximately one hundred and twenty million years—the longest fossil history of any mammal lineage—but were eventually outcompeted by rodents, becoming extinct during the early Oligocene. At least 200 species are...

, within the suborder Cimolodonta
Cimolodonta
The Cimolodonta are a taxon of extinct mammals that lived from the Cretaceous to the Eocene. They were some of the more derived members of the extinct order Multituberculata. They probably lived something of a rodent-like existence until their ecological niche was assumed by true rodents...

 and family Cimolomyidae
Cimolomyidae
Cimolomyidae is a family of fossil mammal within the extinct order Multituberculata. Representatives are known from the Upper Cretaceous and the Paleocene of North America and perhaps Mongolia. The family is part of the suborder Cimolodonta. Other than that, their systematic relationships are hard...

. It lived towards the end of the Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...

 era.

The genus Buginbaatar was named by Kielan-Jaworowska Z. and Sochava A.V. in 1969 based on the remains of a single species. Remains of this species, dubbed Buginbaatar clarki, were found in Upper Cretaceous strata
Stratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 of Bügiyn Tsav in Mongolia.

This is the only known Upper Cretaceous Mongolian multi not to belong to the family Djadochtatherioidea
Djadochtatherioidea
Djadochtatherioidea is a group of extinct mammals known from the upper Cretaceous of Central Asia. They were members of an also extinct order called Multituberculata. These were generally small, somewhat rodent-like creatures, who scurried around during the "age of the dinosaurs". Unusually for...

. Remains are incomplete and the assignment of B. to the Cimolomyidae
Cimolomyidae
Cimolomyidae is a family of fossil mammal within the extinct order Multituberculata. Representatives are known from the Upper Cretaceous and the Paleocene of North America and perhaps Mongolia. The family is part of the suborder Cimolodonta. Other than that, their systematic relationships are hard...

is tentative, (Kielan-Jaworowska & Hurum 2001, p. 408).
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