CNN:Mammal groups showed up before dinos died out

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

CNN article appears at:
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/science/9804/29/dinos.ap/

Major mammal groups appeared before dinosaurs died out, study says
April 29, 1998   

some excerpts
<snip>
   The work suggests at least five major lineages, which today include
   such creatures as rodents, elephants and armadillos, might have
   appeared more than 100 million years ago. 
<snip>
   The results, based on analysis of genes, are presented in Thursday's
   issue of the journal Nature by S. Blair Hedges and a colleague at
   Pennsylvania State University. Hedges and co-authors published a
   similar study in 1996, but their new study includes many more genes.

-Betty