Re: Re: Multituberculate?

[Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)]

>Multituberculate's were a group of "non-therian" mammals with rodent-
>like incisors (buck-teeth).

Recent work by Novacek (or was it McKenna?) and Sereno places multis in the
Metatheria as the sister group to Marsupalia.  Thus, they might be true
therian mammals.

>They were apparently the ecological analogues of living rodents
>until rodents replaced them in the Eocene.  They were very diverse
>and common from the Late Cretaceous through the Early Eocene.

They were present in the Late Jurassic, as well.


Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661

"There are some who call me...  Tim."