Editing Multituberculata (section)

{{Short description|Extinct order of mammals}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Multituberculates
| fossil_range = [[Middle Jurassic]]-[[Late Eocene]] {{Fossil range|168|35|}}
| image = Catopsbaatar catopsaloides.jpg
| image_caption = Skeleton of ''[[Catopsbaatar]]''
| taxon = Multituberculata
| authority = [[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope]], 1884
| subdivision_ranks = Suborders
| subdivision = * †[[Plagiaulacida]] (paraphyletic)
* †[[Cimolodonta]]
}}

'''Multituberculata''' (commonly known as '''multituberculates''', named for the multiple [[tubercle]]s of their teeth) is an extinct [[Order (biology)|order]] of rodent-like [[mammal]]s with a fossil record spanning over 130 million years.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} They first appeared in the Middle [[Jurassic]], and reached a peak diversity during the Late [[Cretaceous]] and [[Paleocene]]. They eventually declined from the mid-[[Paleocene]] onwards, disappearing from the known fossil record in the late [[Eocene]].<ref name="Krause 1986"/> They are the most diverse order of [[Mesozoic]] mammals with more than 200 species known, ranging from mouse-sized to beaver-sized. These species occupied a diversity of ecological niches, ranging from burrow-dwelling to squirrel-like arborealism to [[jerboa]]-like hoppers.<ref name="Weil">{{cite web |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/multis/multis.html |title=Introduction to Multituberculates: The 'Lost Tribe' of Mammals |first=Anne |last=Weil |publisher=[[University of California Museum of Paleontology|UCMP]] |location=Berkeley |date=June 1997 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Chen | first1 = Meng | last2 = Philip Wilson | first2 = Gregory | year = 2015| title = A multivariate approach to infer locomotor modes in Mesozoic mammals | journal = Paleobiology | volume =  41| issue = 2| pages =  280–312| doi = 10.1017/pab.2014.14 | bibcode = 2015Pbio...41..280C | s2cid = 86087687 }}</ref><!-- ref for both sentences above --> Multituberculates are usually placed as [[Crown group|crown]] mammals outside either of the two main groups of living mammals, [[Theria]] &mdash; [[placental]]s and [[marsupial]]s &mdash; and [[Monotremata]],<ref name="Agusti-3">Agustí-Antón 2002, pp 3-4</ref> but usually as closer to Theria than to monotremes.<ref>Benton, Michael J. ''[[Vertebrate Palaeontology (Benton)|Vertebrate Palaeontology]]'' (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=P1LkOL1CijEC&pg=PA300 p. 300]</ref><ref>Carrano, Matthew T., and Richard W. Blob, Timothy J. Gaudin, and John R. Wible (2006). ''Amniote Paleobiology: Perspectives on the Evolution of Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=4uNMCqSRQ9gC&pg=PA358 p. 358].</ref> They are considered to be closely related to [[Euharamiyida]] and [[Gondwanatheria]] as part of [[Allotheria]].