Kumar, S. & Hedges, S. B. A molecular timescale for vertebrate evolution. Nature 392, 917–920 (1998)
Douzery, E. J. P., Delsuc, F., Stanhope, M. J. & Huchon, D. Local molecular clocks in three nuclear genes: divergence times for rodents and other mammals and incompatibility among fossil calibrations. J. Mol. Evol. 57, S201–S213 (2003)
Archibald, J. D., Averianov, A. O. & Ekdale, E. G. Oldest relative to Glires and the Late Cretaceous roots of Placentalia. Nature 414, 62–65 (2001)
Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., Cifelli, R. L. & Luo, Z.-X. Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs: Origins, Evolution, and Structure (Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 2004)
Benton, M. J. & Donoghue, P. C. J. Paleontological evidence to date the tree of life. Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 26–53 (2007)
Wible, J. R., Rougier, G. W. & Novacek, M. J. in The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades (eds Rose, K. D. & Archibald, J. D) 15–36 (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, 2005)
Hunter, J. P. & Janis, C. M. Spiny Norman in the Garden of Eden? Dispersal and early biogeography of Placentalia. J. Mammal. Evol. 13, 89–123 (2006)
Murphy, W. J. et al. Resolution of early placental mammal radiation using Bayesian phylogenetics. Science 294, 2348–2351 (2001)
Springer, M. S., Murphy, W. J., Eizirik, E. & O’Brien, S. J. in The Rise of Placental Mammals: Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades (eds Rose, K. D. & Archibald, J. D) 37–49 (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, 2005)
Wilson, D. E. & Reeder, D. M. (eds) Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, 2005)
McKenna, M. C. & Bell, S. K. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level (Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1997)
Dashzeveg, D. et al. New stratigraphic subdivision, depositional environment, and age estimate for the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, southern Ulan Nur Basin, Mongolia. Am. Mus. Novitates 3498, 1–31 (2005)
Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. Evolution of the therian mammals in the Late Cretaceous of Asia. Part IV. Skull structure in Kennalestes and Asioryctes. Palaeontol. Pol. 42, 25–78 (1981)
Novacek, M. J. et al. Epipubic bones in eutherian mammals from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Nature 389, 483–486 (1997)
Wible, J. R., Novacek, M. J. & Rougier, G. W. New data on the skull and dentition in the Mongolian Late Cretaceous eutherian mammal Zalambdalestes. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 281, 1–144 (2004)
Archibald, J. D. & Averianov, A. O. Late Cretaceous asioryctitherian eutherian mammals from Uzbekistan and phylogenetic analysis of Asioryctitheria. Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 51, 351–376 (2006)
Averianov, A. & Archibald, J. D. Mammals from the mid-Cretaceous Khokzhakul Formation, Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan. Cretac. Res. 26, 593–608 (2005)
Nessov, L. A., Archibald, J. D. & Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. Ungulate-like mammals from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan and a phylogenetic analysis of Ungulatomorpha. Bull. Carnegie Mus. Nat. Hist. 34, 40–88 (1998)
Lillegraven, J. A. Latest Cretaceous mammals from the upper part of the Edmonton Formation of Alberta, Canada, and review of marsupial–placental dichotomy in mammalian evolution. Univ. Kansas Paleontol. Contrib. 50, 1–122 (1969)
Clemens, W. A. Fossil mammals of the type Lance Formation Wyoming, Part III. Eutheria and summary. Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol. Sci. 94, 1–102 (1973)
Horovitz, I. Postcranial skeleton of Ukhaatherium nessovi (Eutheria, Mammalia) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. J. Vert. Paleontol. 23, 857–868 (2003)
Woodburne, M. O., Rich, T. A. & Springer, M. S. The evolution of tribospheny and the antiquity of mammalian clades. Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 28, 360–385 (2003)
Rougier, G. W., Forasiepi, A. M., Martinelli, A. G. & Novacek, M. J. New Jurassic mammals from Patagonia, Argentina: a reappraisal of australosphenidan morphology and interrelationships. Am. Mus. Novitates 3566, 1–54 (2007)
Asher, R. J., Novacek, M. J. & Geisler, J. H. Relationships of endemic African mammals and their fossil relatives based on morphological and molecular evidence. J. Mammal. Evol. 19, 131–194 (2003)
Zack, S. P., Penkrot, T. A., Bloch, J. I. & Rose, K. D. Affinities of ‘hyopsodontids’ to elephant shrews and a Holarctic origin of Afrotheria. Nature 434, 497–501 (2005)
Asher, R. J. et al. Stem Lagomorpha and the antiquity of Glires. Science 307, 1091–1094 (2005)
Archibald, J. D. & Deutschman, D. H. Quantitative analysis of the timing of the origin and diversification of extant placentals. J. Mammal. Evol. 8, 107–124 (2001)
Arnason, U. et al. Mammalian mitogenomic relationships and the root of the eutherian tree. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 99, 8151–8156 (2002)
Bininda-Emonds, O. R. P. et al. The delayed rise of present-day mammals. Nature 446, 507–512 (2007)
Prasad, G. V. R., Jaeger, J. J., Sahni, A., Gheerbrant, E. & Khajuria, C. K. Eutherian mammals from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Intertrappean beds of Naskal, Andhra Pradesh, India. J. Vert. Paleontol. 14, 260–277 (1994)