Mammal Phylogeny

The roots of this book and its sister volume, Mammal Phylogeny: Placentals, go back to discussions and plans, shelved for a while, between F. S. Szalay and W. P. Luckett during the international and multidisciplinary symposium on rodent evolution sponsored by NATO, July 2-6, 1984, in Paris. That conference, orga nized by W. P. Luckett and J. -L. Hartenberger, the proceedings of which were published in 1985, proved an inspiring experience to all of the participants, as this was repeatedly expressed both during and after the meetings. In addition to issues relating to rodents, general theoretical topics pertaining to the evolutionary biol ogy and systematics of other groups of mammals regularly surfaced during the presentations and discussions. M. J. Novacek, who was also a participant in the rodent symposium, shared with Luckett and Szalay the enthusiasm acquired there, and he also expressed strong interest for a meeting on mammal evolution with a general focus similar to that of the rodent gathering. In 1988, Szalay and Luckett, after having planned in detail a program, direc tion, and core list of participants, were awarded a $30,000 grant by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation through the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. The grant was contingent upon obtaining additional funds sufficient to assure that the symposium would be held. Raising the remaining funds proved to be a problem.

The roots of this book and its sister volume, Mammal Phylogeny: Mesozoic Dif ferentiation, Multituberculates, Monotremes, Early Therians, and Marsupials, go back to discussions and plans, shelved for a while, between F. S. Szalay and W. P. Luckett during the international and multidisciplinary symposium on rodent evol ution sponsored by NATO, July 2-6, 1984, in Paris. That conference, organized by W. P. Luckett and J. -L. Hartenberger, the proceedings of which were pub lished in 1985, proved an inspiring experience to all of the participants, as this was repeatedly expressed both during and after the meetings. In addition to issues re lating to rodents, general theoretical topics pertaining to the evolutionary biology and systematics of other groups of mammals regularly surfaced during the pre sentations and discussions. M. J. Novacek, who was also a participant in the ro dent symposium, shared with Luckett and Szalay the enthusiasm acquired there, and he also expressed strong interest for a meeting on mammal evolution with a general focus similar to that of the rodent gathering. In 1988, Szalay and Luckett, after having planned in detail a program, direc tion, and core list of participants, were awarded a $30,000 grant by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation through the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. The grant was contingent upon obtaining additional funds sufficient to assure that the symposium would be held. Raising the remaining funds proved to be a problem.

Animal phylogeny is undergoing a major revolution due to the availability of an ever increasing amount of molecular data, the application of novel methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, and advances in palaeontology and molecular developmental biology.This book revises the major events in animal evolution in the light of these recent advances.

There are nearly 6,000 mammalian species, among them our own. Research on our evolutionary cousins has a long history, but the last 20 years have seen particularly rapid progress in disentangling the interrelationships and evolutionary history of mammals. The present volume combines up-to-date reviews on mammalian phylogenetics with paleontological, taxonomic and evolutionary chapters and also summarizes the historical development of our insights in mammalian relationships, and thus our own place in the Tree of Life. Our book places the present biodiversity crisis in context, with one in four mammal species threatened by extinction, and reviews the distribution and conservation of mammalian diversity across the globe. This volume is the introductory tome to the new Mammalia series of the Handbook of Zoology and will be essential reading for mammalogists, zoologists and conservationists alike.