Zalambdalestes

Zalambdalestes (meaning much-like-lambda robber) was a eutherian mammal, most likely not a placental due to the presence of an epipubic bone,[1][2] living during the Upper Cretaceous in Mongolia.

Life restoration of Z. lechei

Zalambdalestes
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Zalambdalestes lechei skull and lower jaw, Museum of Evolution Warsaw.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: incertae sedis
Family: Zalambdalestidae
Genus: Zalambdalestes
Gregory & Simpson, 1926
Species
  • Z. lechei Gregory & Simpson, 1926 (type)

Zalambdalestes was a hopping animal with a long snout, long teeth, a small brain and large eyes. It was about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, with a head only 5 centimetres (2 in) long. It had strong front paws and even stronger rear ones, sharing specializations to saltation similar to those of modern rabbits.[2][3]

Its diet was probably composed mainly of insects that it hunted in the forest undergrowth using its sharp, interlocking teeth.[4] Unlike modern placental mammals, Zalambdalestes had an epipubic bone, meaning it was probably restricted reproductively in the same way as modern monotremes and marsupials.[2]

Life reconstruction of Z. lechei

References

  • Parker, Steve. Dinosaurs: the complete guide to dinosaurs. Firefly Books Inc, 2003. Pg. 402
  1. Dykes, Kevin T. "Mesozoic Mammals; Zalambdalestidae, Lipotyphla?, Cimolestidae and Cretaceous Taeniodonta". Mesozoic Eucynodonts. Archived from the original on March 4, 2006.
  2. Rose, Kenneth D.; Archibald, J. David, eds. (2005). The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801880223.
  3. Chen, Meng; Wilson, Gregory P. (2015). "A multivariate approach to infer locomotor modes in Mesozoic mammals". Paleobiology. 41 (2): 280–312. doi:10.1017/pab.2014.14. S2CID 86087687.
  4. Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 201. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.

Further reading


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