Vertebrate Palaeontology

List of boxes viii    Preface x     About the companion website xii     1 Vertebrates Originate 1     Key questions in this chapter 2     Introduction 2     1.1 Sea squirts and the lancelet 2     1.2 Ambulacraria: echinoderms and hemichordates 4     1.3 Deuterostome relationships 6     1.4 Chordate origins 8     1.5 Vertebrates and the head 14     1.6 Further reading 14     Questions for future research 15     1.7 References 15     2 How to Study Fossil Vertebrates 18     Key questions in this chapter 19     Introduction 19     2.1 Digging up bones 19     2.2 Publication and professionalism 24     2.3 Geology and fossil vertebrates 29     2.4 Biology and fossil vertebrates 33     2.5 Discovering phylogeny 36     2.6 The quality of the fossil record 39     2.7 Macroevolution 41     2.8 Further reading 43     2.9 References 43     3 Early palaeozoic fishes 45     Key questions in this chapter 46     Introduction 46     3.1 cambrian vertebrates 46     3.2 vertebrate hard tissues 49     3.3 the jawless fishes 51     3.4 origin of jaws and gnathostome relationships 59     3.5 placoderms: armour-plated monsters 60     3.6 chondrichthyes: the first sharks 65     3.7 acanthodians: the    spiny skins    65     3.8 devonian environments 67     3.9 osteichthyes: the bony fishes 70     3.10 early fish evolution and mass extinction 79     3.11 further reading 79     Questions for future research 80     3.12 References 80     4 Early tetrapods and amphibians 84     Key questions in this chapter 85     Introduction 85     4.1 Problems of life on land 85     4.2 Devonian tetrapods 88     4.3 The Carboniferous world 96     4.4 Diversity of Carboniferous tetrapods 98     4.5 Temnospondyls and reptiliomorphs after the Carboniferous 106     4.6 E volution of the modern amphibians 109     4.7 Further reading 114     Questions for future research 114     4.8 References 114     5 Evolution of early amniotes 118     Key questions in this chapter 119     Introduction 119     5.1 Hylonomus and Paleothyris     biology of the first amniotes 119     5.2 Amniote evolution 121     5.3 The Permian world 125     5.4 The parareptiles 125     5.5 The eureptiles 128     5.6 Basal synapsid evolution 132     5.7 The Permo-Triassic mass extinction 142     5.8 Further reading 143     Questions for future research 143     5.9 References 143     6 Bounceback: tetrapods of the Triassic 147     Key questions in this chapter 148     Introduction 148     6.1 The Triassic world and its effect on the recovery of life 148     6.2 Triassic marine reptiles 150     6.3 E volution of the archosauromorphs 154     6.4 O rigin of the dinosaurs 161     6.5 Reptile evolution in the Triassic 164     6.6 Further reading 168     Questions for future research 168     6.7 References 168     7 Evolution of fishes after the devonian 172     Key questions in this chapter 173     Introduction 173     7.1 The early sharks and chimaeras 173     7.2 Post-Palaeozoic chondrichthyan radiation 178     7.3 The early bony fishes 181     7.4 Radiation of the teleosts 191     7.5 Post-Devonian evolution of fishes 198     7.6 Further reading 199     Questions for future research 199     7.7 References 199     8 The age of dinosaurs 204     Key questions in this chapter 205     Introduction 205     8.1 Biology of Plateosaurus 205     8.2 The Jurassic and Cretaceous world 206     8.3 The diversity of saurischian dinosaurs 207     8.4 The diversity of ornithischian dinosaurs 221     8.5 Were the dinosaurs warm-blooded or not? 232     8.6 Pterosauria 236     8.7 Testudinata: the turtles 241     8.8 Crocodylomorpha 247     8.9 Lepidosauria: lizards and snakes 250     8.10 The great sea dragons 256     8.11 The Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction 259     8.12 Further reading 263     Questions for future research 264     8.13 References 264     9 The birds 273     Key questions in this chapter 274     Introduction 274     9.1 The origin of birds 274     9.2 The origin of bird flight 282     9.3 Cretaceous birds, with and without teeth 287     9.4 The radiation of modern birds: explosion or long fuse? 296     9.5 Flightless birds: palaeognathae 299     9.6 Neognathae 300     9.7 The three-phase diversification of birds 311     9.8 Further reading 312     Questions for future research 313     9.9 References 313     10 Mammals 318     Key questions in this chapter 319     Introduction 319     10.1 Cynodonts and the acquisition of mammalian characters 319     10.2 The first mammals 328     10.3 The Mesozoic mammals 332     10.4 Evolution of modern mammals 343     10.5 Marsupials down under 346     10.6 South American mammals     a world apart 349     10.7 Afrotheria and the break-up of Gondwana 355     10.8 Boreoeutherian beginnings: the Palaeocene in the northern hemisphere 361     10.9 Basal laurasiatherians: Lipotyphla 366     10.10 Cetartiodactyla: cattle, pigs and whales 366     10.11 Pegasoferae: bats, horses, carnivores and pangolins 375     10.12 Glires: rodents, rabbits and relatives 383     10.13 Archonta: primates, tree shrews and flying lemurs 388     10.14 Ice age extinction of large mammals 389     10.15 Further reading 390     Questions for future research 390     10.16 References 391     11 Human evolution 400     Key questions in this chapter 401     Introduction 401     11.1 What are the primates? 401     11.2 The fossil record of early primates 402     11.3 Anthropoidea: monkeys and apes 407     11.4 Hominoidea: the apes 411     11.5 E volution of human characteristics 414     11.6 The early stages of human evolution 416     11.7 The past two million years of human evolution 421     11.8 Further reading 428     Questions for future research 428     11.9 References 429     Appendix: Classification of the vertebrates 433     Glossary 448     Index 453     The colour plate section can be found between pp. 244   245