Ancient Beaver-Like Creature Lived 65 Million Years Ago
Posted on October 5, 2015
Scientists have discovered the fossil of an ancient beaver-like creature that lived 65 million years ago. It belongs to a group of multituberculate mammals that date back to around 160 million years ago. The multituberculates are not ancestors of modern mammals.
The fossil was discovered by University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Carissa Raymond (pictured below) during a fossil-hunting trip in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico in 2014. She discovered strange black teeth which turned out to belong to a previously unknown mammal. The creature has been named Kimbetopsalis-simmonsae. It was fur-covered and about 3 feet long (1 meter).
Project leader Thomas Williamson, curator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, says in a statement, "When Carissa found this thing and brought it to me, I instantly suspected it was new. I'd never seen anything like this before."
A BBC News story says the multituberculates originated alongside dinosaurs and thrived for over 100 million years before being superseded by rodents. A research paper on the new species was published here in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
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