In the US, found the remains of “beaver-contemporary of the dinosaurs” – BBC Russian

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Image caption According to the scientists, an extinct rodent was very similar to the beaver

Paleontologists have discovered the remains of a rodent in the US, lived about 65 million years ago. According to scientists, so ancient mammals can shed light on the course of the rapid evolution of this class of vertebrates after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Novoopisannoe creation received the specific name Kimbetopsalis simmonsae in honor of the geological formations in the US state of New Mexico, where the fossils were found.

At the same time, scientists are convinced that the related detected kimbetopsalisu animals of the order multituberculata were covered with hair and there were over 100 million years before the extinction of the dinosaurs from the face of the Earth.

According to paleontologists, like beaver rodent could be the biggest discovery of all described multituberculata – perhaps he could have a mass of 100 kg.

Opening kimbetopsalisa can convincingly demonstrate how quickly evolved mammals in the world after the death of the dinosaurs, says Thomas Williamson Museum of New Mexico.

Description of the new findings published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.