multituberculate

American  

[muhl-tee-too-bur-kyuh-lit, -leyt, -tyoo-, muhl-tahy-] / ˌmʌl ti tʊˈbɜr kyə lɪt, -ˌleɪt, -tyʊ-, ˌmʌl taɪ- /

noun

1. a rodentlike mammal of the extinct order Multituberculata, which lived from the late Jurassic Period to the Oligocene Epoch, reaching the size of a woodchuck and having molars with two or three rows of simple pointed cusps.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the multituberculates.

2. having teeth with many simple, pointed cusps.

Etymology

Origin of multituberculate

From New Latin Multituberculata (1884); multi-, tuberculate, -ata ¹

Example Sentences

It contributed to the unmatched longevity of the multituberculate lineage, and it facilitated group diversification by enabling multituberculates to use plants as a food source at a time in prehistory when other mammals mainly ate insects or small vertebrates.

From Nature

Earliest evolution of multituberculate mammals revealed by a new Jurassic fossil.

From Nature

Meng, J. & Wyss, A. R. Monotreme affinities and low-frequency hearing suggested by multituberculate ear.

From Nature

Rougier, G. W., Wible, J. R. & Novacek, M. J. Middle-ear ossicles of the multituberculate Kryptobaatar from the Mongolian Late Cretaceous: implications for mammaliamorph relationships and the evolution of the auditory apparatus.

From Nature

They were characteristic of multituberculate mammals, rodent-like creatures that lived with dinosaurs for more than 100 million years.

From Time