We consider certain constant-coefficient differential operators on R d with positive-definite symbols. Each such operator Λ with symbol P defines a semigroup e −tΛ , t > 0 , admitting a convolution kernel H t P for which the large-time behavior of H t P (0) cannot be deduced by basic scaling arguments. The simplest example has symbolWe devise a method to establish large-time asymptotics of H t P (0) for several classes of examples of this type and we show that these asymptotics are preserved by perturbations by certain higher-order differential operators. For the P just given, it turns out that H t P (0) ∼ c P t −5/8 as t → ∞ . We show how such results are relevant to understand the convolution powers of certain complex functions on Z d . Our work represents a first basic step towards a good understanding of the semigroups associated with these operators. Obtaining meaningful off-diagonal upper bounds for H t P remains an interesting challenge.