Anagale
Genus of mammals (fossil)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anagale is an extinct genus of mammal from the Early Oligocene of Mongolia. Its closest living relatives are the rodents and lagomorphs.
| Anagale Temporal range: Early Oligocene | |
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| Restoration of A. gobiensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | †Anagaloidea |
| Family: | †Anagalidae |
| Genus: | †Anagale Simpson, 1931 |
| Species: | †A. gobiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Anagale gobiensis Simpson, 1931 | |
Description
Anagale was 30 cm (1 ft) long and resembled a rabbit, but with a longer tail.[1] Anagale gobiensis had the lowest neocortical ratio ever recorded in a euarchontogliran. Along with its small neocortex, it also possessed small petrosal lobules; both of these traits are typically associated with fossorial mammals. Its laterally expansive palaeocortex and relatively large olfactory bulbs suggest that olfaction was its primary sense.[2]
Palaeobiology
The build of the hind legs of Anagale indicates that it walked, and did not hop. Judging from its shovel-shaped claws, Anagale burrowed for food, such as subterranean beetles and worms. Anagale fossils have strongly worn teeth from eating soil, further indicating it ate subterranean invertebrates.[1]
