Major Events in Early Vertebrate Evolution

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Contributors......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Introduction......Page 13
Deuterostome phylogeny: the context for the origin and evolution of the vertebrates......Page 16
Amphioxus and the evolutionary origin of the vertebrate neural crest and the midbrain/hindbrain boundary......Page 30
The origin of the neural crest......Page 48
The origin and early fossil history of the acustico-lateralis system, with remarks on the reality of the echinoderm-hemichordate clade......Page 55
The Cambrian origin of vertebrates......Page 82
Origin of a mineralized skeleton......Page 100
The relationship of lampreys to hagfishes: a spectral analysis of ribosomal DNA sequences......Page 121
Molecular evidence for the early history of living vertebrates......Page 134
Vertebrate phylogeny: limits of inference of mitochondial genome and nuclear rDNA sequence data due to an adverse phylogenetic signal/noise ratio......Page 150
The Ordovician radiation of vertebrates......Page 171
Ostracoderms and the shaping of the gnathostome characters......Page 187
Scenarios, selection and the ecology of early vertebrates......Page 202
Placoderms and basal gnathostome apomorphies......Page 224
The evolution of vertebrate dentitions: phylogenetic pattern and developmental models......Page 238
Early sharks and primitive gnathostome interrelationships......Page 256
A primitive chondrichthyan braincase from the Middle Devonian of Bolivia......Page 278
Interrelationships of basal osteichthyans......Page 304
Dialipina and the characters of basal actinopterygians......Page 330
Origin of the teleost tail: phylogenetic frameworks for developmental studies......Page 348
Occipital structure and the posterior limit of the skull in actinopterygians......Page 365
Lungfish paired fins......Page 385
Is there a tetrapod developmental bauplan underlying limb evolution? Evidence from a teleost fish and from urodele and anuran amphibians......Page 392
The otoccipital region: origin, ontogeny and the fish-tetrapod transition......Page 407
Index......Page 421
Systematics Association Publications......Page 430