Re: Cretaceous taeniodont

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004, David Marjanovic wrote:

> > It's a basal taeniodont, so probably not as
> > front-heavy as later forms (which, I seem to recall, were
> > something like staple-pullers on legs).
>
> Here's what taeniodonts look like:
> http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/taeniodonts.htm

First of all, thanks to Christopher and David for news of these exciting
discoveries! As a rank amateur I am so very grateful for any
interpretations of this esoteric field!

If this taeniodont is Late Cretaceous, this brings to three the number of
relatively large mammals from NA at this time (_Cimolestes magnus_, _D.
vorax_, and now a similarly-sized taeniodont).  So, a statistical
question: at what point can we conclude there was some relaxation on size
constraints of those animals at that time?  How  many species need to be
above, say, one kg. before we can say predation and/or competition was no
longer keeping mammals small?  Would one more do it?  Two?
Also, if any of these mammals were burrowers what are the chances we would
find their burrowers?
Thanks.