Table of Contents

List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Womb With a View: The Rise f Placentals
Chapter 2. Looking Back at the Record: George Gaylord Simpson and Paleomammalogy
Chapter 3. Anatomical Evidence for Superordinal/Ordinal Eutherian Taxa in the Cretaceous
Chapter 4. Molecular Evidence for Major Placental Clades
Chapter 5. Insectivoran-Grade Placentals
Chapter 6. Macroscelidea and Tubulidentata
Chapter 7. Paenungulata (Sirenia, Proboscidea, Hyracoidea, and Relatives)
Chapter 8. Xenarthra and Pholidota
Chapter 9. Euarchonta (Dermoptera, Scandentia, Primates)
Chapter 10. Glires (Lagomorpha, Rodentia)
Chapter 11. Chiroptera
Chapter 12. Carnivora
Chapter 13. Perissodactyla
Chapter 14. Artiodactyla
Chapter 15. Cetacea
Index

About the Author

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. J. David Archibald is Professor of Biology and Curator of Mammals in the Department of Biology at San Diego State University. In addition he is a Research Associate at the San Diego Museum of Natural History and the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley. For the past 10 years he has directed the URBAC Paleontological Expeditions to the Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan, where he and his colleagues search for early placental mammals.

Reviews

Placental Mammals achieves a balance between molecular work, on the one hand, and anatomical and paleontological work, on the other. Influential figures of twentieth-century studies of placental mammalian phylogenetics are fulsomely acknowledged, particularly W. K. Gregory and G. G. Simpson... A complete treatment of uniformly high quality has emerged... A tribute to the vision and dynamism of the editors, and a vindication of their choice of contributors... This timely volume somehow represents that biological cliche: a new synthesis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution The volume should be welcome bedside reading for all mammal systematicists and anyone interested in the evolution of mammals. Science An excellent summary of current thinking about the higher levels of mammalian evolution. Choice Not only an up-to-date textbook, but a detailed source of reference for all readers interested in mammals and their evolution. -- Giessen P. Langer Mammalian Biology I give this book a glowing review and a high recommendation. -- James W. Waddick Science Books and Films I recommend the book to all those interested in the evolutionary history of placentals. -- Lucja Fostowicz-Frelik Acta Palaeontologica Polonica An excellent reference on the current state of knowledge and issues surrounding the origin, diversification, and phylogenetic position of placental mammalian clades. -- Christopher C. Gilbert Evolutionary Anthropology