Browsing by Author "Novacek, Michael J."
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Item Auditory features and affinities of the Eocene bats Icaronycteris and Palaeochiropteryx (Microchiroptera, incertae sedis) / Michael J. Novacek. American Museum novitates ; no. 2877(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1987) Novacek, Michael J."The earliest known bats are skeletons of Icaronycteris index from the early Eocene of western Wyoming and a few less well-represented species from the early Eocene of France. Also known are Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and several other species from the middle Eocene of western Germany. These taxa have been regarded as primitive forms, either 'ancestral' to echolocating microchiropterans or 'ancestral' to both micro- and megachiropterans. Details of basicranial structure suggest that these Eocene forms were, however, specialized echolocators comparable to Recent microchiropterans. Moreover, quantitative analysis reveals that the Eocene bats have a more pronounced expansion of the cochlea than many Recent microchiropteran species. There is clear justification for reference of Icaronycteris and Palaeochiropteryx to the Microchiroptera. Conversely, there is no reason to recognize a 'primitive-ancestral' group, Eochiroptera, that is excluded from Microchiroptera or Megachiroptera. The relationships of Icaronycteris and Palaeochiropteryx within Microchiroptera remain uncertain. Association of these taxa and several other Eocene forms within the microchiropteran superfamily Palaeochiropterygoidea fails to clarify these relationships. Palaeochiropterygoidea has not been defined by derived characters, and Icaronycteris and Palaeochiropteryx are more accurately designated Microchiroptera incertae sedis. Several primitive features shown by Icaronycteris suggest that the development of a sophisticated system for echolocation within Microchiroptera occurred earlier than certain modifications of the postcranial skeleton"--P. [1].Item Basicranial morphology of early Tertiary erinaceomorphs and the origin of primates. American Museum novitates ; ; no. 2921.(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1988) MacPhee, R. D. E.; Novacek, Michael J.; Storch, G.Item Contributions to mammalogy in honor of Karl F. Koopman. Bulletin of the AMNH ; no. 206([New York] : American Museum of Natural History, 1991) Griffiths, Thomas Alan.; Klingener, David.; Handley, Charles O.; Owen, Robert D.; Peterson, R. L.; Baker, Robert J.; Honeycutt, Rodney L.; Van Den Bussche, Ronald A.; Freeman, Patricia Waring.; Lemen, Cliff A.; Smith, Andrea L.; Novacek, Michael J.; Pacheco Torres, Victor R. (Victor Raul); Patterson, Bruce D.; Ryan, James M.; Anderson, Sydney.; Heaney, Lawrence R.; Hill, John E.; Morgan, Gary S.; Wilson, Don E.; Timm, Robert M.; Lewis, Susan E.; Lawrence, Marie A.; MacPhee, R. D. E.; Fleagle, John G.; Musser, Guy G.; Holden, Mary Ellen.; Voss, Robert S.; Myers, Philip.Item Cranial evidence for the monophyletic origin of bats. American Museum novitates ; ; no. 2911.(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1988) Wible, John R.; Novacek, Michael J.Item Earliest eutherian ear region : a petrosal referred to Prokennalestes from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia. American Museum novitates ; no. 3322(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2001) Wible, John R.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Novacek, Michael J.; McKenna, Malcolm C.; Mongolian-American Museum Paleontological Project.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.A right petrosal from the ?Aptian or Albian Khoobur locality is referred on the basis of size and morphology to Prokennalestes trofimovi, the earliest eutherian previously known only from dentigerous elements. The petrosal shows a mosaic of primitive and derived features, bearing on the purported therian and eutherian morphotypes. Among the primitive features shared with the early Cretaceous prototribosphenidan Vincelestes and other more basal taxa that are modified in later eutherians and metatherians are the pattern of basicranial arterial and venous circulation, including a prootic canal and an intrapetrosal inferior petrosal sinus; a vertical paroccipital process; and a fenestra semilunaris, an incomplete wall between the cavum epiptericum and cavum supracochleare. Among the derived features shared with therians is a cochlea coiled through a minimum of 360°, with Prokennalestes extending the range of the oldest occurrence of such a coiled cochlea by at least 10 million years. Shared with late Cretaceous eutherians is a shallow internal acoustic meatus with a thin prefacial commissure. The petrosal referred to Prokennalestes is intermediate in having a reduced anterior lamina and lateral flange, both of which are well developed in Vincelestes and essentially lacking in later eutherians and metatherians. Features previously held to be part of the therian and eutherian morphotypes, such as the absence of the anterior lamina and lateral flange, may have been lost independently in metatherians and in post-Prokennalestes eutherians.Item Estesia mongoliensis : a new fossil varanoid from the late Cretaceous Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia. American Museum novitates ; no.3045(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1992) Norell, Mark.; McKenna, Malcolm C.; Novacek, Michael J.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.Item The eutherian mammal Maelestes gobiensis from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia and the phylogeny of Cretaceous Eutheria. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 327)(New York : American Museum of Natural History., 2009) Wible, John R.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Novacek, Michael J.; Asher, Robert J.Maelestes gobiensis Wible et al., 2007, is the second new eutherian mammal to be named from the rich Mongolian late Cretaceous locality of Ukhaa Tolgod, Ukhaatherium nessovi Novacek et al., 1997, being the first. Maelestes is only the seventh late Cretaceous eutherian known from the skull and the upper and lower dentitions, and the fifth known from some postcranial elements. The type and only known specimen, PSS-MAE 607, is described and illustrated in detail. The type is amended to include: an incomplete skull, left dentary, atlas, axis, last cervical and first 11 thoracic vertebrae, 11 partial ribs, incomplete scapula, clavicle, humerus, and proximal radius and ulna. An astragalus on a separate block was referred to Maelestes by Wible et al. (2007), but it is too large to belong to this taxon and is removed from the isotype. Several corrections and updates are made to the phylogenetic analysis of Wible et al. (2007). The original analysis and the one in this report include 408 morphological characters (127 dental, 212 cranial, and 69 postcranial) in Maelestes along with 68 other taxa (four stem therians, three metatherians, 31 Cretaceous eutherians, 20 extinct Tertiary placentals, and 11 extant placentals). Maelestes is identified as a member of Cimolestidae sensu Kielan- Jaworowska et al. (2004) along with the slightly younger and poorer known North American taxa Batodon Marsh, 1892, and Cimolestes Marsh, 1889. Cimolestidae, in turn, is grouped with Asioryctitheria sensu Archibald and Averianov (2006), which includes monophyletic Mongolian and Uzbekistani clades. The other principal Late Cretaceous clades are: a Laurasian Zhelestidae; Paranyctoides Fox, 1979 (North American and Uzbekistan) + Eozhelestes Nessov, 1997 (Uzbekistan); and an Asian Zalambdalestidae. In contrast to some previous analyses, but in common with Wible et al. (2007), no Cretaceous eutherians are identified as members of any placental group.Item First Jurassic triconodont from South America ; American Museum novitates, no. 3580(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2007) Rougier, Guillermo W.; Garrido, Alberto, paleontologist.; Gaetano, Leandro.; Puerta, Pablo.; Corbitt, Cynthia.; Novacek, Michael J.A new mammal from the Middle Jurassic CaÅ nadon Asfalto Formation, Patagonia, Argentina, is reported. The specimen, an isolated lower? molariform, is erected as the type of a new genus and species of triconodont, Argentoconodon fariasorum. The molariform presents a peculiar combination of primitive and derived features that makes recognition of its affinities challenging. Argentoconodon shares similarities with poorly known triconodonts from the Jurassic of North America and Morocco and lacks the diagnostic traits of the triconodontid triconodonts. Argentoconodon resembles in general the paraphyletic "amphilestid" triconodonts. The specimen is too incomplete to warrant broader interpretations, but it suggests that at least this lineage of South American mammals was distinctly autapomorphic, perhaps with an origin in forms with a broader geographical distribution.Item The geology of Ukhaa Tolgod (Djadokhta Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Nemegt Basin, Mongolia) ; American Museum novitates, no. 3616(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2008) Dingus, Lowell.; Loope, David B.; DashzÄ—vÄ—g, DÄ—mbÄ—rÄ—liÄn.; Swisher, Carl Celso.; Minjin, Chuluun.; Novacek, Michael J.; Norell, Mark.The lithostratigrahy and sedimentology of the fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous strata exposed in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia at Ukhaa Tolgod are described and mapped on aerial photos. Topographic features are also mapped by plane table and alidade. Five lithologic and sedimentologic facies are described: E-1, distinctly cross-stratified sandstone with fine structure, interpreted to represent eolian dune deposits; E-2, vaguely bedded sandstone with cross-stratified concretionary sheets, interpreted to represent eolian dune deposits modified by diagenetic formation of slope-parallel concretionary sheets of pedogenic calcite; S, structureless sandstone lacking concretions or cross-strata, interpreted to represent sandslide deposits generated by mass wasting along the lee slopes; C, conglomerate interpreted to represent basin-margin conglomerates washed into the dune field from adjacent topographic highs; and M, mudstone and siltstone interpreted to represent interdune deposition in ephemeral ponds and lakes. Facies E-2 and S have not been reported previously. Eleven stratigraphic sections at various localities within the Ukhaa Tolgod drainage basin are documented. The exposed composite section consists of about 75 m of pale orange sandstones, greenish-brown conglomerates, and brown siltstones that are products of an arid environment. Four schematic cross sections are documented to illustrate the lateral relationships among the five facies. In the Ukhaa Tolgod area, the beds dip about 2.5° to the south, away from the nearby Gilbent Range. This structural attitude is interpreted to be related to the uplift of the Gilbent block along normal faults exposed at the base of the range. The strata at Ukhaa Tolgod are referred to the Djadokhta Formation. Similar to the classic Djadokhta exposures at Bayn Dzak, the sequence of strata reflects a mixture of facies E-1, E-2, S, and M in the lower part of the section, with prominent beds of Facies C near the top. The dune-derived sandslides of Facies S contain a rich skeletal fauna of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, mammals, and lizards. Essentially, all the skeletal remains collected at Ukhaa Tolgod come from Facies S. Facies E-1 does contain numerous, concave-up depressions in the cross-strata interpreted as vertebrate tracks. Facies E-2 contains abundant cylindrical structures interpreted as burrows. As seen in the Bayn Dzak Member at Bayn Dzak, facies E-1, E-2, S, and M dominate the lower part of the section at Ukhaa Tolgod, with prominent beds of Facies C exposed near the top. Accordingly, the exposures at Ukhaa Tolgod are referred to the Bayn Dzak Member of the Djadokhta Formation. Classic exposures of the Barun Goyot Formation at Khulsan differ in having units of flat-bedded sandstone intercalated with beds of Facies S near the top of the section. To date, over 1,000 vertebrate skulls and skeletons have been collected from Facies S. Most are preserved as float contained in small calcareous nodules; however, some were found in situ. Many specimens represent either fairly complete skulls or skulls with articulated or associated postcranial skeletons. Based on faunal similarities between Bayn Dzak and Ukhaa Tolgod, the fauna at Ukhaa Tolgod is interpreted to reflect a Campanian age. The rich assemblage of fossils makes Ukhaa Tolgod one of the richest Late Cretaceous vertebrate fossil localities in the world, and the fossils provide unique insights into evolutionary developments of mammals, lizards, and dinosaurs, including birds, less than 10 my before the terminal Cretaceous extinction event.Item Gobiconodonts from the early Cretaceous of Oshih (Ashile), Mongolia. American Museum novitates ; no. 3348(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2001) Rougier, Guillermo W.; Novacek, Michael J.; McKenna, Malcolm C.; Wible, John R.; Mongolian-American Museum Paleontological Project.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.We describe here the first discovered mammalian remains from the Mongolian early Cretaceous locality Oshih (Ashile). Four fragmentary, tooth-bearing specimens, probably corresponding to three individuals, have been recovered. All the fossils can be assigned to the family Gobiconodontidae (Chow and Rich, 1984). The specimens include three lower jaw fragments and one upper jaw fragment, and represent at least two different taxa. Gobiconodon hopsoni, n. sp., is described and diagnosed here. This new species is larger than G. ostromi (early Cretaceous Cloverly Formation, USA); thus, it is the largest triconodont and one of the largest Mesozoic mammals known. Gobiconodon sp., found also at Oshih, is slightly larger than G. borissiaki, from the early Cretaceous of Khoobur, Mongolia, but smaller than G. ostromi. The specimens of this second species are poorly preserved and provide insufficient data for a diagnosis. The status of the different species of Gobiconodon and the new gobiconodontid Hangjinia is reviewed. In gobiconodontids and Triconodontidae, the maxillae appear to make a significant contribution to the orbital rim, a condition unusual among basal mammals, in which the lacrimal and jugal are the main components. Other triconodonts such as Jeholodens, likely an "amphilestid", appear to show the primitive mammalian condition for this feature. We present a brief consideration of triconodont relationships and discuss alternative placements of Gobiconodon among Mammaliaformes.Item The history of scientific relations between Cuba and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) : 160 years of collecting and collaborating (1857-2017) = La historia de las relaciones cientĂficas entre Cuba y el American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) : 160 años de colecciĂ³n y colaboraciĂ³n (1857-2017)(New York : American Museum of Natural History, 2017-06) Goldberg, Suzann L.; Novacek, Michael J.; AlayĂ³n GarcĂa, GiraldoSpanish and English on facing pages. Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-126).Item A mammalian petrosal from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia : implications for the evolution of the ear region and mammaliamorph interrelationships. American Museum novitates ; no.3149(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1995) Wible, John R.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Novacek, Michael J.; McKenna, Malcolm C.; DashzÄ—vÄ—g, DÄ—mbÄ—rÄ—liÄn.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.Item Middle-ear ossicles of the multituberculate Kryptobaatar from the Mongolian late Cretaceous : implications for mammaliamorph relationships and the evolution of the auditory apparatus. American Museum novitates ; no. 3187(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1996) Rougier, Guillermo W.; Wible, John R.; Novacek, Michael J.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.Item New data on the skull and dentition in the Mongolian late Cretaceous eutherian mammal Zalambdalestes. Bulletin of the AMNH ; no. 281(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2004) Wible, John R.; Novacek, Michael J.; Rougier, Guillermo W.; Mongolian-American Museum Paleontological Project.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.Exquisitely preserved specimens of the late Cretaceous eutherian Zalambdalestes recently collected from the Djadokhta Formation (early Campanian) of the Gobi Desert by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences-American Museum of Natural History Expeditions are the centerpiece of a thorough redescription of this taxon's craniodental morphology. Resolved and amended are uncertainties and errors in prior descriptions based on poorer preserved specimens collected by earlier expeditions to the Gobi. Preserved and described for the first time in Zalambdalestes is the basicranium, including an ectotympanic bone and portions of the hyoid arch. Zalambdalestes with a skull length of nearly 50 mm is large compared with other Cretaceous eutherians. It is also highly specialized with a long, thin, tubular snout, large diastemata in the anterior upper dentition, and an elongated mesial lower incisor with restricted enamel. These specializations, though less extreme, are also present in the zalambdalestids Barunlestes from the slightly younger Barun Goyot Formation of the Gobi and Kulbeckia from the late Turonian and Coniacian of Uzbekistan and the Santonian of Tadjikistan. No phylogenetic analysis published to date includes enough taxonomic and morphological breadth to evaluate the relationships of Zalambdalestes. Nevertheless, we investigate the impact of our observations on seven phylogenetic analyses published since 1993 that include Zalambdalestes. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis testing the relationships of Zalambdalestes is not included here, but it is expected to result from our ongoing efforts to produce a phylogeny of basal tribosphenic and therian mammals. Currently, zalambdalestids are viewed either as stem eutherians or as having affinities to Glires (lagomorphs and rodents). Our comparisons with other extinct and extant taxa support a position for Zalambdalestes within Eutheria but outside the crown-group Placentalia. Supporting this basal position for Zalambdalestes are such primitive features as the last upper incisor in the maxilla, nasals broadly expanded posteriorly to contact the lacrimals, pterygoids meeting on the midline, and the position of the glenoid fossa on the zygoma and not the braincase proper, in addition to the occurrence of epipubic bones reported previously. Zalambdalestes shares a number of apomorphies with Asioryctitheria, the clade including the Mongolian late Cretaceous Asioryctes, Ukhaatherium, and Kennalestes. Among the unusual specializations supporting a zalambdalestid-asioryctithere clade are: the postglenoid foramen anterior rather than posterior to the postglenoid process; the postglenoid and entoglenoid processes of the squamosal continuous; a fusiform ectotympanic expanded laterally and contacting the entoglenoid process; a suprameatal foramen in the squamosal; a crista interfenestralis connecting from the petrosal promontorium to a fingerlike tympanic process behind the round window; a large piriform fenestra in the anterior roof of the tympanic cavity, which transmitted the ramus inferior of the stapedial artery endocranially to the orbit; a foramen ovale between the alisphenoid and squamosal; and a medially positioned internal carotid artery. All but the last two of these specializations are reminiscent of those occurring in various extant lipotyphlans, including taxa placed by recent DNA sequence analyses within Afrotheria and Eulipotyphla, and may provide a link between the Mongolian Cretaceous eutherians and lipotyphlans. The available sample of Zalambdalestes exhibits a remarkable degree of individual variation, including the incidence of the upper maxillary incisor, the first upper premolar, and the second lower premolar. The possibility exists that more than a single species, Z. lechei, is represented.Item New Jurassic mammals from Patagonia, Argentina : a reappraisal of australosphenidan morphology and interrelationships ; American Museum novitates, no. 3566(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2007) Rougier, Guillermo W.; Martinelli, AgustĂn G.; Forasiepi, AnalĂa M.; Novacek, Michael J.A new mammal, Henosferus molus, n.gen. and n.sp., from the Callovian-Oxfordian (latest middle to earliest late Jurassic) CañadĂ³n Asfalto Formation from Chubut Province (Argentina) is described. This taxon corresponds to a new species clearly different from Asfaltomylos patagonicus from the same locality and stratigraphic level. This new species is based on three lower jaws with relatively well-preserved dentition. The lower jaw shows a primitive morphology having a Meckelian groove, a prominent medial flange associated with a lateral ridge of the dentary, and a deep dentary trough, which possibly indicates the presence, even though reduced, of postdentary bones still attached to the dentary. The lower dental formula is i4, c1, p5, m3. The premolars are simple, bearing a main cusp, while the molars appear to be tribosphenic, with an obtuse to right-angled trigonid and a basined talonid with three cusps. This association of plesiomorphic features in the jaw and derived features in the molars is documented in several taxa of the recently proposed Australosphenida. A phylogenetic analysis of mammaliaforms nests the new species with Asfaltomylos from the same locality and stratigraphic level; Henosferidae, new family, is recognized for Asfaltomylos and Henosferus, representing the basal radiation of Australosphenida. Henosferidae is the sister group to Ambondro from the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar, which, in agreement with previous phylogenies, is the sister taxon to the remaining australosphenidans. Additionally, our phylogenetic analysis does not support the inclusion of australosphenidans within eutherians. Henosferids likely retained some connection of the postdentary elements with the dentary; therefore, if the inclusion of Monotremata within Australosphenida is confirmed, final freeing of the postdentary elements and development of a triossicular middle ear would be convergent events in Monotremata and Theria. Finally, the distinctiveness of the yet sparse South American record of Jurassic mammals when compared with the slightly better documented Cretaceous data is emphasized. The clear faunistic break between the middle Jurassic and early/late Cretaceous underlies our rudimentary understanding of the evolution of Mesozoic mammals in Gondwana.Item A new multituberculate from the late Cretaceous locality Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia : considerations on multituberculate interrelationships. American Museum novitates ; no.3191(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1997) Rougier, Guillermo W.; Novacek, Michael J.; DashzÄ—vÄ—g, DÄ—mbÄ—rÄ—liÄn.; Mongolyn ShinzhlÄ—kh Ukhaany Akademi.Item On the classification of early Tertiary Erinaceomorpha (Insectivora, Mammalia). American Museum novitates ; no. 2813(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1985) Novacek, Michael J.; Bown, Thomas M.; Schankler, David M."Definitions are provided for three early Tertiary families of Erinaceomorpha. The family Dormaaliidae includes Dormaalius, Macrocranion, Scenopagus, Ankylodon, Crypholestes, Sespedectes, and Proterixoides. Several of these genera are traditionally known collectively as 'Adapisoricidae,' but Adapisorex is probably an erinaceid and the name Adapisoricidae is therefore unavailable for the above listed taxa. Dormaaliids are characterized by a reduction in size and complexity of the anterior premolars, a reduced, premolariform P[subscript 4], and several other dental specializations. A second family, the Amphilemuridae includes Amphilemur, Gesneropithex, Alsaticopithecus, and Pholidocercus. Amphilemurids have inflated, bunodont cheek teeth that superficially resemble primate dentitions. A third family, the Erinaceidae, includes the early Tertiary genera Litolestes, Leipsanolestes, Entomolestes, Neomatronella, Eolestes, Adapisorex, Cedrocherus, and living and fossil members of the Galericinae, Brachyericinae, and Erinaceinae. Another member of the Erinaceidae is Dartonius, proposed here as a new designation for 'Leptacodon' jepseni. Several erinaceomorphs are either too generalized in structure, too divergent, or too poorly represented to allow assignment to any of the above families. These incertae sedis taxa are Diacodon, Adunator (including Mckennatherium), Diacocherus, Litocherus, Talpavus, and Talpavoides"--P. [1].Item Paleogene mammals from the Andes of central Chile : a preliminary taxonomic, biostratigraphic, and geochronologic assessment. American Museum novitates ; no. 3098(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1994) Wyss, AndrĂ© R.; Flynn, John J. (John Joseph), 1955-; Norell, Mark.; Swisher, Carl Celso.; Novacek, Michael J.; McKenna, M. C.; Charrier, R.Item Selected features of the desmostylian skeleton and their phylogenetic implications. American Museum novitates ; no. 2870(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1987) Novacek, Michael J.; Wyss, AndrĂ© R."According to several standard descriptions, desmostylians lack certain specializations shared by proboscideans, sirenians, and hyracoids. These specializations are amastoidy and the serial arrangement of the carpals with the concomitant loss of contact between the lunar and unciform. We argue that original descriptions of desmostylians pertaining to these traits are either in error, or have alternative phylogenetic implications. Hence, comparisons of these conditions do not exclude desmostylians from the superordinal group Tethytheria (proboscideans and sirenians) or the more inclusive Paenungulata (tethytheres and hyracoids)"--P. [1].Item The Sespedectinae, a new subfamily of hedgehog-like insectivores. American Museum novitates ; no. 2822(New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1985) Novacek, Michael J."A new subfamily of erinaceomorph insectivorans, the Sespedectinae, is defined to include Sespedectes, Proterixoides, and the more dentally conservative Crypholestes. All three genera are confined to the middle Eocene of southern California. A new species of Sespedectes, S. stocki, from the San Onofre area (? Santiago Formation) of northern San Diego County is recognized on the basis of size parameters of the lower molars. Dental evidence favors the placement of sespedectines within the dormaaliids. The subfamily is distinguished from other dormaaliids by its large, complex P[superscript 3], bunodont molar cusp pattern, and several other dental features. The bunodont molar construction of sespedectines is reminiscent of the European 'amphilemurids.' There is evidence to suggest, however, that some of the special similarities between these two groups were independently derived. Contrary to some theories, sespedectines are not erinaceids, nor are they hyopsodontid condylarths. In a classification that reflects the pattern of relationships preferred here, the Dormaaliidae comprises three subfamilies, the Dormaaliinae (including Dormaalius, Macrocranion, and the tribe Amphilemurini), the Scenopaginae (Scenopagus and Ankylodon), and the Sespedectinae"--P. [1].