Named By: | B. A. Trofimov in 1978 |
Time Period: | Middle Jurassic-Late Cretaceous 166-94 Ma |
Location: | China, Mongolia, Russia and the USA |
Size: | About 45-50 centimetre long, depending upon the species |
Diet: | Carnivore/Insectivore |
Fossil(s): | Multiple individuals of various species |
Classification: | | Chordata | Mammalia | Gobiconodonta | Gobiconodontidae | |
Also known as: | | Guchinodon hoburensis | Neoconodon borissiaki | |
Gobiconodon is an extinct genus of carnivorous mammal from the early Cretaceous. It weighed 10-12 pounds (4.5-5.4 kg) and measured 18-20 inches (460-510 mm). It was one of the largest mammals known from the Mesozoic. Like other gobiconodontids, it possesses several speciations towards carnivory, such as shearing molar teeth, large canine-like incisors and powerful jaw and forelimb musculature, indicating that it probably fed on vertebrate prey; rather uniquely among predatory mammals and other eutriconodonts, the lower canines were vestigial, with the first lower incisor pair having become massive and canine-like. Like the larger Repenomamus there might be some evidence of scavenging.