Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals

Abstract

C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, L. L. Jacobs (eds.). 1998. Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Volume 1: Terrestrial Carnivores, Ungulates, and Ungulatelike Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 691 pp. ISBN 0-521-35519-2, price (hardback), $260.00. This book has undertaken a huge task, that of bringing order to the information available for the diverse assemblage of terrestrial mammals that appeared, diversified, and sometimes became extinct over the last 65 million years. The editors' goal did not stop there, however. This book goes further, providing similar kinds of information for each taxon in a similar format. Having chapters contributed by researchers specializing in each group ensures thoroughness of coverage, up-to-date citation of the pertinent primary literature, and the most contemporary interpretations of evolutionary patterns among the taxa. The introductory chapters of Part I serve well to set the stage of the evolution of Tertiary mammals. It is critical in an attempt to understand the biology of a species, and even more so for a lineage, whether living or extinct, to know at least basic data about conditions that drove their selection. Each of the factors covered in Chapter 1, chronologic, climatic, and paleogeographic, adds depth to biologic interpretations. With the addition of Chapter 2, discussing the vegetation of the North American Tertiary, the context essential to explaining why Tertiary mammals evolved in directions revealed by the fossil record is presented. Chapter 3 demonstrates how these different kinds of information can be used to interpret North American faunal assemblages. Even more importantly, this chapter places animals and their ecologies in a climatic framework, simplifying the understanding of how natural selection pressures are correlated with those of climatic change. Although the chapters on each …