[continued from previous message]   
      
   >> not hooved; and pantolestids are not hooved.) The consensus date for   
   >> Ferae is 65 million years ago. Wikipedia gives a date for 73-85   
   >> million years for Scrotifera, but the relevant nodes, depending on   
   >> topology, are Zooamata or Ferungulata, which are younger.   
   >>   
   >> 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.   
   >   
      
   I believe that notoungulates and litopterns are hoofed   
   stem-perissodactyls. If chalicotheres are primitively clawed, this   
   requires convergence in Hippomorpha, Ceratomorpha,   
   Notoungulata/Litopterna, and possibly other groups.   
      
   --   
   alias Ernest Major   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)