The taxonomy of recent mammals has lately undergone tremendous revision, but it has been almost four decades since the last update to Timothy E. Lawlor's acclaimed identification guide the Handbook to the Orders and Families of Living Mammals. Integrating the latest advances in research, Douglas A. Kelt and James L. Patton provide this long-overdue update in their new, wholly original work, A Manual of the Mammalia. Complemented by global range maps, high-resolution photographs of skulls and mandibles by Bill Stone, and the outstanding artwork of Fiona Reid, this book provides an overview of biological attributes of each higher taxon while highlighting key and diagnostic characters needed to identify skulls and skins of all recent mammalian orders and most families. Kelt and Patton also place taxa in their currently understood supra-familial clades, and discuss current challenges in higher mammal taxonomy. Including a comprehensive review of mammalian anatomy to provide a foundation for understanding all characters employed throughout, A Manual of the Mammalia is both a user-friendly handbook for students learning to identify higher mammal taxa and a uniquely comprehensive, up-to-date reference for mammalogists and mammal-lovers from across the globe.

About the Author
Douglas A. Kelt is professor of wildlife ecology at the University of California, Davis, and incoming president of the American Society of Mammalogists.He lives in Woodland, CA. James L. Patton is professor emeritus of integrative biology and curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, and a past president of the American Society of Mammalogists. He is coeditor most recently of Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents, also published by the University of Chicago Press. He lives in Kensington, CA.

Reviews
"An outstanding contribution to our efforts to teach students and professionals the wealth of recent literature that is recasting our understanding of the world's mammals. I applaud Kelt and Patton for keeping Lawlor's name associated with this massive revision. It isn't so much 'Lawlor's . . .' anymore, but it is very generous of these authors to recognize his initial efforts and contributions in teaching a next generation of mammalogists. The glossary and illustrations are excellent and most helpful. This book will be the standard for years to come."--Robert M. Timm, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, and past president, American Society of Mammalogists "Kelt and Patton have greatly expanded Lawlor's work with new taxonomic and systematic organization, many more and better illustrations, and a more extensive bibliography. This new rendition is much improved. There is hardly a better manual for comparing old and new taxonomic and phylogenetic constructs for the Class Mammalia. Relations of groups of mammals, and Mammaliaformes, are clearly presented. Characteristics of each order and family are clearly and succinctly listed. Drawings and photos are first rate and clearly illustrate the desired points for each character/group. This book will have a place on the bookshelf of every mammalogist worldwide."--Michael A. Mares, director, curator, and professor emeritus, Sam Noble Museum, University of Oklahoma, and past president, American Society of Mammalogists



Book Information
ISBN 9780226533001
Author Douglas A Kelt
Format Hardback
Page Count 544
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press