A group of special interest to mammalogists, taxonomists, and systemicists, ungulates have proven difficult to classify. This comprehensive review of the taxonomic relationships of artiodactyls and perissodactyls brings forth new evidence in order to propose a theory of ungulate taxonomy.
With this straightforward volume, Colin Groves and the late Peter Grubb cut through previous assumptions to define ungulate genera, species, and subspecies. The species-by-species accounts incorporate new molecular, cytogenetic, and morphological data, other recent information, and the authors' own observations and measurements. The authors include references and supporting arguments for new classifications. A starting point for further research that is sure to be discussed and hotly debated in the mammalogical community, this well-reasoned synthesis aims to define the field for years to come.
Colin Groves is a professor of biological anthropology at Australian National University and the author of "Primate Taxonomy".
Peter Grubb was an English zoologist who, until his death in December 2006, was widely recognized as the world's leading ungulate taxonomist.