Beginning of the Age of Mammals

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.

• PrefaceAcknowledgments1. IntroductionThe Early Cenozoic Mammalian RadiationTiming of the Crown-Therian RadiationMammalian Phylogeny, Interrelationships, and ClassificationGeochronology and Biochronology of the Early CenozoicPaleogeographic Setting during the Beginning of the Age of MammalsPaleocene-eocene Climate and FloraOrganization of the Volume2. Mammalian Skeletal Structure and AdaptationsSkullDentitionPostcranial SkeletonSkeletal Adaptations3. The Origin of MammalsWhat is a Mammal?The Evolutionary Transition to Mammals4. Synopsis of Mesozoic Mammal EvolutionHistorical BackgroundThe Oldest MammalsDocodontaMultituberculataEutriconodontaSymmetrodontsEupantotheresTribosphenic MammalsMesozoic Mammals of Uncertain Affinity5. Metatheria: Marsupials and Their RelativesBasal MetatheriansPrimitive Marsupials6. Earliest Eutherian Mammals7. CimolestaDidelphodonta and Other Primitive CimolestaDidymoconidaePantolestaApatotheriaTaeniodontaTillodontiaPantodonta8. Creodonta and CarnivoraCreodontaCarnivora9. InsectivoraLeptictidaLipotyphla10. Archonta: Bats, Dermopterans, Primates, and Tree ShrewsChiropteraDermopteraPrimates and PlesiadapiformesScandentia11. "Edentates": Xenarthra and PholidotaXenarthraPholidota12. Archaic UngulatesOldest Ungulate RelativesCondylarthra: Archaic UngulatesArctostylopidaMeridiungulata: Endemic South American UngulatesDinocerata13. Altungulata: Perissodactyls, Hyraxes, and TethytheresPerissodactylaPaenungulata14. Cete and ArtiodactylaCete and CetaceaArtiodactyla15. Anagalida: Rodents, Lagomorphs, and Their RelativesPrimitive Asian Anagalidans and Possible AnagalidansMacroscelideaGlires16. Reflections and Speculations on the Beginning of the Age of MammalsEarly Cenozoic Mammal RecordSynopsis of Paleocene and Eocene MammalsA Final NoteLiterature CitedIndex

This beautiful and thorough book will be an essential tool for all those who work on fossil and extant mammals, and for both advanced undergraduate and graduate students. It is a 'must buy' for palaeontological libraries. -- Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska Nature 2007 This volume will be extremely valuable, particularly for mammalogists used to dealing only with the time slice of the Recent... Highly recommended. Choice 2007 The first comprehensive synthesis of mammal evolution in more than 20 years. It is arguably the most significant contribution to the field since George Simpson's classic work Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals. -- Amy Chew Quarterly Review of Biology 2007 Will almost certainly become a heavily used reference and mainstay in the classroom for students and teachers of mammalian evolution... Deserving of accolades as a particularly noteworthy achievement. -- Christopher C. Gilbert Evolutionary Anthropology 2007 Remarkable book. -- Peter Langer Mammalian Biology 2008 Authoritative, up-to-date, and full of references to corroborate synthetic overviews of major events in mammalian evolution. Ken Rose does his profession a service by providing a compact analysis of the history of the diverse Class Mammalia through the end of the Eocene Epoch and beyond. -- Lawrence J. Flynn Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2009 A must reference for all mammalian and aspiring mammalian paleontologists. -- J.D. Archibald Journal of Mammalian Evolution 2009