[continued from previous message]   
      
   > As support for hooves as a convergent trait, not all mesonychians (which   
   > are stem artiodactyls) possessed hooves. However there is dispute   
   > whether the hoofless mesonychians (arctocyonids) are stem-artiodactyls.   
      
   It's also the case that not all (or any??) stem-perissodactyls are   
   hooved, and even some crown-perissodactyls aren't (chalicotheres). I'd   
   say that convergence in hoofiness is considerably more parsimonious   
   given the data, even forgetting about Dollo's Law.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)