page_title: Catopsbaatar
section_title: Palaeoenvironment
hierarchical_section_title: Catopsbaatar / Palaeoenvironment
caption_attribution_description: Multituberculate mammal Catopsbaatar catopsaloides (Kielan−Jaworowska, 1974), PM 120/107, Upper Cretaceous, red beds of Hermiin Tsav, Hermiin Tsav I locality, Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Left clavicle, associated with a tiny fragment of&#160;?interclavicle (no. 11 in Fig. 1B). Stereo−photographs in anterior (A), posterior (B), and medial (C) views. D. Stereo−photo of the articular medial surface, showing damaged fragment of&#160;?interclavicle.
context_page_description: Catopsbaatar is a genus of multituberculate, an extinct order of rodent-like mammals. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 72 million years ago. The first fossils were collected in the early 1970s, and the animal was named as a new species of the genus Djadochtatherium in 1974, D. catopsaloides. The specific name refers to the animal's similarity to the genus Catopsalis. The species was moved to the genus Catopsalis in 1979, and received its own genus in 1994. Five skulls, one molar, and one skeleton with a skull are known; the last is the genus' most complete specimen. Catopsbaatar was a member of the family Djadochtatheriidae.
  The skull of Catopsbaatar was up to 70 mm long and, as in other multituberculates, proportionally large. The external appearance of these animals' heads may have been similar to those of rodents. The skull was heavy-set and wide, with the zygomatic arches strongly expanded to the sides. The eye sockets were smaller and placed further back than in its relatives, and the snout was more elongated. Catopsbaatar had semicircular ridges on the side of the skull, to which the jaw muscles were attached.
context_section_description: All specimens of Catopsbaatar are known from the Barun Goyot Formation of the Gobi Desert, which probably dates to the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch (about 72 million years ago). The specimens were discovered in the Red Beds of Hermiin Tsav area except for one molar from Khulsan. When Catopsbaatar was discovered, the Red Beds of Hermiin Tsav area was thought to be a distinct formation coeval (of the same geological age) with the Barun Goyot Formation, as they contain many of the same animals, but is now thought to correspond to different levels of the Barun Goyot and Nemegt formations. The rock facies of the Red Beds of Hermiin Tsav area consist of orange-coloured, thick-bedded sandstone, with a thin interbedding of light-coloured silt stones and claystones. The rock facies of the Barun Goyot Formation are considered to be the result of an arid or semi-arid environment, with aeolian (deposited by wind) beds.
  Other known mammals from the Red Beds of Hermiin Tsav include the multituberculates Nemegtbaatar, Chulsanbaatar and Nessovbaatar, and the therians Deltatheridium, Asioryctes, and Barunlestes. Dinosaurs include Ajancingenia, Velociraptor, Saichania, Platyceratops, Gobiceratops, and some indeterminate theropods. Reptiles include the turtle Mongolemys, the lizards Gobinatus, Tchingisaurus, Prodenteia, Gladidenagama and Phrynosomimus, and an indeterminate crocodile. The frog Gobiates and an indeterminate alexornithiform bird are also known. Ostracods include Limnocythere, Cypridea, and Eucypris.
caption: Stereo photos of a clavicle and possible interclavicle of PM120/107
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