Re: Mesozoic multituberculates diversified well before dinosaur extinction

[K and T Dykes <ktdykes@arcor.de>]

"Very interesting!! This shows the likely size increase of multis...any 
evidence of similar trends in other mammals? I think Cimolestes and 
Zhelestids increased similarly, some of them anyway. If so, could be 
relaxation of dinosaur-enforced size restriction, or opening of new 
niches afforded by floral revolution. Thanks, John Bois"

Offhand, I seem to recall some of the South American Upper Cretaceous 
dryolestoids have been reported for being relatively large, and North 
America's marsupial star, /Didelphodon/, frequently gets referred to as 
'badger-sized'.  (That's compared to the North American badger, not the 
larger Eurasian model).  Similar dimensions have been stated for the 
possible placental /Schowalteria/ from Alberta.


Talking of being on the scrounge...
Should anybody happen to have a pdf of the 2012 multi paper in Nature, I 
sadly haven't.  A copy would be given a good home.