typhlonectes: Rooting the family tree of placental mammals Date: February 15, 2016 Source: Universit
typhlonectes:Rooting the family tree of placental mammals Date:February 15, 2016Source:University of Bristol The roots of the mammalian family tree have long been shrouded in mystery – when did the placental mammals go their separate ways? Now, researchers say they’ve found where the family tree of placental mammals first branched apart - and when it happened. Placental mammals consist of three main groups that diverged rapidly, evolving in wildly different directions: Afrotheria (for example, elephants and tenrecs), Xenarthra (such as armadillos and sloths) and Boreoeutheria (all other placental mammals). The relationships between them have been a subject of fierce controversy with multiple studies coming to incompatible conclusions over the last decade leading some researchers to suggest that these relationships might be impossible to resolve…(read more: Science Daily)photograph of Hoffman’s 2-toed Sloth by Goeff Gallice -- source link