First excavated in Mongolia in the 1970s, the fossil sat in storage for decades until researchers for the Russian Academy of Sciences rediscovered and analyzed it, reporting their results today (Aug. 27) in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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The find also helps put the mysterious Ernanodon into the mammal family tree. Archaeologists had suspected that the animal might be related to modern-day sloths and armadillos. Instead, Kondrashov said, it is more closely tied to pangolins, which live in the tropics of Asia and Africa. Pangolins are bizarre mammals covered in scales. Like anteaters, they have a long, sticky tongue for catching termites and other insects.
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"This is the time when all the main groups of mammals were established on the planet. This history is really well-deciphered in North America, and there's very little known about Asia," he said. "This helps us to understand how these early steps in the evolution of major groups of mammals occurred in Asia."
Ancient Termite-Digging Creature Added to Mammal Family Tree