Kimbetopsalis

Name: Kimbetopsalis.
Phonetic: Kim-ber-op-sal-iss.
Named By: T.‭ ‬E.‭ ‬Williamson,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬L.‭ ‬Brusatte,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Record‭ & ‬S.‭ ‬Shelley‭ ‬-‭ ‬2015.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Multituberculata,‭ ‬Taeniolabidoidea,‭ ‬Taeniolabididae.
Species: K.‭ ‬simmonsae‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly estimated to be about‭ ‬90‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: USA,‭ ‬New Mexico‭ ‬-‭ ‬Nacimiento Formation.
Time period: Danian of the Paleocene.
Fossil representation: Partial skull.

       Kimbetopsalis is a genus of multituberculatan mammal that lived in the USA not long after the asteroid impact that marked the KT extinction that ended the reign of the dinosaurs.‭ ‬Kimbetopsalis has been identified as a member of the Multituberculata due to the large number‭ ‬of cusps that are clearly visible upon the teeth of the holotype,‭ ‬which are partial skull,‭ ‬including upper jaw bone and teeth.‭ ‬Mammals similar to Kimbetopsalis are known from earlier in the Cretaceous period,‭ ‬but these were mostly small,‭ ‬rarely no bigger than modern day rats‭ (‬though there were a few exceptions‭)‬.‭ ‬With a roughly estimated size of just under a meter,‭ ‬Kimbetopsalis was significantly larger than these,‭ ‬and may have grown so large because at the time it lived there may have been an absence of large predatory animals,‭ ‬with‭ ‬the worlds ecosystems still recovering from the KT extinction.




Further reading
-‭ ‬A new taeniolabidoid multituberculate‭ (‬Mammalia‭) ‬from the middle Puercan of the Nacimiento Formation,‭ ‬New Mexico,‭ ‬and a revision of taeniolabidoid systematics and phylogeny.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.‭ ‬-‭ ‬T.‭ ‬E.‭ ‬Williamson,‭ ‬S.‭ ‬L.‭ ‬Brusatte,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Record‭ & ‬S.‭ ‬Shelley‭ ‬-‭ ‬2015.

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