Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America

Edited by Christine M. Janis

This book is a unique compendium and synthesis of the cumulative knowledge of more than 100 years of discovery and study of north American mammals. The potentially most valuable contribution of this book is the detailed information of the distribution in time and space of each genus based on fossil localities, recorded in a uniform scheme, so that each chapter provides the same level of information.

Thirty six chapters are devoted to a particular family or order, written by a leading North American authority, including discussion of anatomical features, systematics, and paleobiology. Three introductory chapters summarize information on the geological time scale, Tertiary vegetation, and Pleistocene events, and four summary chapters integrate systematic and biogeographic information of higher taxa.

This book will serve as a unique database for continuing studies on faunal diversification and change, and for questions such as how changing biogeography and climates influenced the evolution of mammalian communities.

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