Meniscoessus

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Multituberculata

Family: Cimolomyidae

Genus: Meniscoessus

Type Species: Meniscoessus conquistus meaning "Small-Crescent Tooth."

Described by Edward Drinker Cope, 1882.

Species:

-Meniscoessus collomensis, Jason A. Lillegraven, 1987.

-Meniscoessus conquistus, Cope, 1882, meaning "Chosen Small-Crescent Tooth."

-Meniscoessus ferox, Richard C. Fox, 1971.

-Meniscoessus intermedius, Fox, 1976.

-Meniscoessus major, Loris Shano Russell, 1936.

-Meniscoessus robustus, Othniel Charles Marsh, 1889, meaning "Robust Small-Crescent Tooth."

-Meniscoessus seminoensis, Jaelyn J. Eberle and Jason A. Lillegraven, 1998.

Common Name: Hell Creek False Gopher.

Current Park Population:

Park Diet: Rodent pellets, fruits, crickets, mealworms, pre-killed mice, and eggs.

Natural Diet: Ferns, leaves, horsetails, roots, tubers, insects, lizards, and dinosaur eggs.

Lifespan: 5 years

Habitat: Fern Prairies, Open-Canopy Forests, Floodplain Swamps, and Semi-arid Shrublands.

Native Ecosystem: Western North America, when it was an island continent known as Laramidia. Hell Creek Formation, Foremost Formation, Oldman Formation, St. Mary River Formation, and Ferris Formation, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, USA, and Alberta, Saskatchewan, Canada, Late Cretaceous, 75-56 Million Years Ago, Campanian-Maastrichtian Stages.

Breeding Season: Late Winter and Early Spring.

Gestation Period: Three-Four Weeks.

Litter Born: 6-12 babies.

Danger Level: 2 out of 10.

Park Star Rating: 1 star

Summary: The mammals were a diverse family during the Mesozoic despite their small size. One of these mammal groups was the "Multituberculata, an extinct group of primitive mammals that after appearing in the Middle Jurassic were extremely diverse during the Cretaceous, but slowly became extinct around 35 million years ago. The groundhog-sized multituberculate Meniscoesssus is a frequent sight on the forest floor under cover of darkness, where it can be found nibbling on plant matter."

Description: It was a small mammaliamorph. As an endotherm, it needed to eat regularly to produce the energy needed to regulate its body. They resembled a mix between a rat, a gopher, and a Tasmanian devil.

Meniscoessus robustus

Individuals are dark brown back grading to light brown with white spots, black feet, a gray-black striped tail, a pink nose, a white underbelly, and a white collar on the nape of their neck.

Size: They measure 1 meter long and weigh 7 lbs.

Taxonomy: The genus Meniscoessus was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1882. It has also been known under the following names: Cimolomys (partly); Dipriodon (Marsh 1889); Halodon (Marsh 1889); Oracodon (Marsh 1889); Moeniscoessus; Selenacodon (Marsh 1889) (partly); and Tripriodon (Marsh 1889).

The generic name has a complicated history. It is attributed to Cope, 1882. Later, this was joined by "Meniscoessus" (Marsh 1889). The second usage is related to teeth described as belonging to small carnivorous dinosaurs. These were further christened Dipriodon, Tripriodon, and others, including Triprotodon. Close similarities were then noticed with an already established dinosaur genus, Paronychodon (Cope 1876), also based on teeth from the Laramie Formation. Over time, an impressive school of names was synonymized under P. However, this is now considered a nomen dubium.

In 1929, George Gaylord Simpson published American Mesozoic Mammalia (Mem. of the Peabody Museum, 3 pt. 1; i-xv). The name Tripriodon ("three saw tooth") was resurrected. These "theropod" teeth were mammalian. The mammal T. since seems to have fallen from use.

Meniscoessus is a valid multituberculate, known from high-quality remains including many teeth.

List of Species:

The species Meniscoessus collomensis was named by Jason A. Lillegraven in 1987. Fossil remains were found in the Upper Cretaceous strata of the Williams Fork Formation, in Colorado (United States). This species is known from only one site. It weighed an estimated 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb).

The species Meniscoessus conquistus was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1882. Remains were found in the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of Colorado and the St. Mary River Formation of Canada.

The species Meniscoessus ferox was named by Richard C. Fox in 1971. Remains were found in the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of the Upper Milk River Formation of Alberta, Canada. The holotype, collected in 1968, is in the University of Alberta collection.

The species Meniscoessus intermedius was named by Richard C. Fox in 1976. Remains were found in the Campanian - Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of the Oldman Formation of Alberta and New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming (USA). It is estimated to have weighed about 500 grams (18 oz), as much as a large rat.

The species Meniscoessus major was named by Loris Shano Russell in the 1930s. It is also known as Cimolomys major (Russell 1936). Remains were found in the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of Montana (USA) and Alberta, Canada. The weight of this species has been estimated at around 1 kilogram (2.2 lb). The holotype is in Alberta.

The species Meniscoessus robustus was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1889. It has also been known as Cimolomys sculptusy; Dipriodon lacunatus; D. lunatus (Marsh 1889); D. robustus (Marsh 1889); Halodon sculptus (Marsh 1889); M. borealis (Simpson 1927); M. coelatus; M. fragilis; M. greeni (Wilson R.W. 1987); M. lunatus; M. sculptus; Moeniscoessus robustus; Oracodon anceps (Marsh 1889); O. conulus (Marsh 1892); Selenacodon fragilis (Marsh 1889); and Tripriodon coelatus (Marsh 1889). Remains were discovered in Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) and possibly Paleocene strata of Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota (USA), and the St. Mary's River Formation in Canada. Marsh authored a swamp of names. The weight of this species is estimated to have been about 3.3 kilograms (7.3 lb). The first usage of M. robustus seems to go back to Osborn in 1891.

The species Meniscoessus seminoensis was named by Jaelyn J. Eberle and Jason A. Lillegraven in 1998. Remains were found in Campanian - Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) strata of the Ferris Formation in Wyoming. A lower jaw measuring 3.5 centimeters (1.4 in) was found near the Seminoe mountains. It has a close resemblance to M. robustus. It was somewhere between "rat-sized" and 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb), depending upon which source. An alternative name for this location is "Leave No Toad Unturned."

Several other names have been circulating, such as Meniscoessus bustus, Meniscoessus caperatus (Marsh 1889), and Meniscoessus coelatus. The first is probably a variant of M. robustus, while the latter two seem to have been connected with dinosaur teeth.

Paleobiology

Dentition and Diet: It was an omnivore, mostly eating plant material but occasionally feeding on small animals, like insects or even lizards and dinosaur eggs. Meniscoessus was a Multituberculate, often nicknamed the 'Rodents' of the Mesozoic due to their unique teeth, adapted for processing any kind of food- plant or animal.

Interactions with other species: Being a small animal in a time of large dinosaurs, it was prey both adults and young for theropods like young Tyrannosaurus, young Dakotaraptor, Dromaeosaurus, Acheroraptor, Anzu, Ornithomimus, Leptoceratops, Torosaurus, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, Thescelosaurus, and Pectinodon, reptiles like Borealosuchus, Thoracosaurus, Brachychampsa, Borealosuchus, Champsosaurus, Palaeosaniwa, and Dinilysia, and the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus.

Mother Dinosaurs are quite protective of their eggs involved with Meniscoessus as they could raid their eggs.

They would have preyed on Chamops, Scapherpeton, hatchlings, and eggs of Palaeosaniwa, Dinilysia, Basilemys, and Brodavis.

Extinction: Unfortunately, Meniscoessus would become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, although e they could have survived to the early Paleocene, luckily, the Multituberculate group survived into the Late Eocene.

Danger Tip: Due to their sharp teeth, these mammals can deliver a painful bite.

Danger Tip: Normally harmless and easy to handle, but can bite.

Significant Events: On the final day, the team encounters a group of Meniscoessus, alongside two other mammals, Alphadon, and Cimolestes, a group of Palaeosaniwa basking in the sun as they lounged upon a large rock, alongside Chamops scampering around in search of food like insects and plants, and a Slither of Dinilysia coiled up on top of a large log basking in the sun. They were scooped up in bags and taken to Prehistoric Park. They now live in the Hell Creek Building Mammal Pens.

Hell Creek Building Mammal Pens: There are Four other land paddocks near the back entrance of the building, with burrows and underground viewing, serving as home to Didelphodon, Alphadon, Cimolestes, and Meniscoessus. The Meniscoessus is a pen with fallen logs to hide/gnaw on, burrows with underground viewing, soil for them to dig in, and vegetation scattered throughout the pen.

Conclusion: Meniscoessus might not be as interesting as T. Rex, but they are an example of the diversity of mammals during the Mesozoic Era. They can be quite interesting mammals to observe especially in their underground burrows at Prehistoric Park.

The Field Guide might take a long time, like structuring and writing descriptions of the creatures, but also my time in college and spending time with my family. So you can suggest additional information quotes, descriptions, and natural or speculative behaviors for the prehistoric animals that I can edit and you send your suggestions either in reviews or Private Messages.

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