Object.getClass is unique in that the type of an invocation depends on the type of the receiver expression -- it is declared to return a Class<?>, but actually returns a Class<? extends T>.

This is mentioned in JLS 4.3.2, but it is difficult to connect the dots from a method reference expression (4.3.2 only mentions a "method invocation expression").

For clarity, the return type of 'getClass' should be made explicit in 15.12.2.6.