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2.1 Mezosoic Mammals

Early mammals were small shrew-like animals that fed on insects. The earliest mammals include:

Although mammals existed alongside the dinosaurs, it wasn't until mass-extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, known as the K-T extinction, that mammals began to dominate.

2.2 Paleocene Mammals

During the next 8 million years, the Paleocene period (64-58 mya), mammals exploded into the ecological niches left by the die-off of the dinosaurs. Small rodent-like mammals still dominated, but medium and larger-sized mammals evolved.

3 Classification

George Gaylord Simpson's classic Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals (AMNH Bulletin v. 85, 1945) was the original source for the taxonomy listed here. Simpson laid out a systematics of mammal origins and relationships that was universally taught until the end of the 20th Century. Since Simpson's 1945 classification, the paleontological record has been recalibrated, and the intervening years have seen much debate and progress concerning the theoretical underpinnings of systematization itself, partly through the new concept of cladistics (q.v.). Though field work gradually made Simpson's classification outdated, it remained the closest thing to an official classification of mammals.

3.1 McKenna/Bell Classification

In 1997, the mammals were comprehensively revised by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell, which has resulted in the McKenna/Bell classification.

McKenna and Bell, Classification of Mammals: Above the species level, (1997) is the most comprehensive work to date on the systematics, relationships, and occurrences of all mammal taxa, living and extinct, down through the rank of genus. The new McKenna/Bell classification was quickly accepted by paleontologists. The authors work together as paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. McKenna inherited the project from Simpson and, with Bell, constructed a completely updated hierarchical system, covering living and extict taxa that reflects the historical genealogy of Mammalia.

The McKenna/Bell hierarchical listing of all of the terms used for mammal groups above the species includes extinct mammals as well as modern groups, and introduces some fine distinctions such as legions and sublegions (categories which fall between classes and orders) that are likely to be glossed over by the layman.

The published re-classification forms both a comprehensive and authoritative record of approved names and classifications and a list of invalid names.

Click on the highlighted link for a table comparing the traditional and the new McKenna/Bell classifications of mammals

Class Mammalia



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MammalSubclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia LagomorpMammalogyIn biology, mammalogy is the study of mammals, a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. Three major subdivisions of mammals are monotremes, marsupials and placentMammalian diving reflexSubmerging the face into water causes the mammalian diving reflex which is found in all mammals, but especially in marine mammals as for example whales and seals. This reflex puts the body into energy saving modus to maximize the time that can be spent un
Mammal-like reptilesMammal-like reptiles is a term used to describe the prehistoric animals that appear to be the reptilian ancestors of mammals. Their scientific name is Therapsida, and the Cynodonts were the most mammal-like of the Therapsids.Mammalian embryonic diapauseDiapause in mammals is a condition where pre-implantation blastocysts are maintained in a state of dormancy, often due to environmental cues, until such time as the environment improves. Diapause occurs in over 100 species of mammals in distantly related 


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