Maelestes
Maelestes
Prehistoric shrew-like mammal that lived in the Gobi Desert
Maelestes is a prehistoric shrew-like mammal discovered in 1997 in the Gobi Desert. The animal lived in the late Cretaceous Period, around 71–75 million years ago, and was a contemporary of dinosaurs such as Velociraptor and Oviraptor. According to some scientists, the discovery and analysis of this species suggests that true placental mammals appeared near the time the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years ago, not much earlier in the Cretaceous as thought by others.[1] However, the presence of an epipubic bone, among other characteristics, place it as a non-placental eutherian.[1][2]