The Beginning of the Age of Mammals

Front Cover
JHU Press, 2006 M09 26 - 428 pages

In the tradition of G. G. Simpson's classic work, Kenneth D. Rose's The Beginning of the Age of Mammals analyzes the events that occurred directly before and after the mysterious K-T boundary which so quickly thrust mammals from obscurity to planetary dominance.

Rose surveys the evolution of mammals, beginning with their origin from cynodont therapsids in the Mesozoic, contemporary with dinosaurs, through the early Cenozoic, with emphasis on the Paleocene and Eocene adaptive radiations of therian mammals. Focusing on the fossil record, he presents the anatomical evidence used to interpret behavior and phylogenetic relationships. The life's work of one of the most knowledgeable researchers in the field, this richly illustrated, magisterial book combines sound scientific principles and meticulous research and belongs on the shelf of every paleontologist and mammalogist.

-- J.D. Archibald
 

Contents

Introduction
1
Mammalian Skeletal Structure and Adaptations
23
The Origin of Mammals
41
Synopsis of Mesozoic Mammal Evolution
48
Metatheria Marsupials and Their Relatives
72
Earliest Eutherian Mammals
88
Cimolesta
94
Creodonta and Carnivora
119
Archonta Bats Dermopterans Primates and Tree Shrews
156
Edentates Xenarthra and Pholidota
198
Archaic Ungulates
211
Altungulata Perissodactyls Hyraxes and Tethytheres
241
Cete and Artiodactyla
271
Anagalida Rodents Lagomorphs and Their Relatives
306
Reflections and Speculations on the Beginning of the Age of Mammals
335
Copyright

Insectivora
138

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About the author (2006)

Kenneth D. Rose is a professor at the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a research associate at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. He is co-editor of The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades, also published by Johns Hopkins.

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