Vertebrate Palaeontology

1. Vertebrate Origins:.Key Questions.Introduction.Sea Squirts And The Lancelet.Phylum Hemichordata: Pterobranchs And Acorn Worms.Deuterostome Relationships.Chordate Origins.Vertebrates And The Head.Further Reading.2. How To Study Fossil Vertebrates:.Key Questions.Introduction.Digging Up Bones.Geology And Fossil Vertebrates.Biology And Fossil Vertebrates.Discovering Phylogeny.The Quality Of The Fossil Record.Further Reading.3. Early Fishes:.Key Questions.Introduction.Cambrian Vertebrates.Vertebrate Hard Tissues.The Jawless Fishes.Origin Of Jaws And Gnathostome Relationships.Class Placodermi: Armour-Plated Monsters.Class Chondrichthyes: The First Sharks.Class Acanthodii: The 'Spiny Skins'.Devonian Environments.Class Osteichthyes: The Bony Fishes.Early Fish Evolution And Mass Extinction.Further Reading.4. The Early Tetrapods And Amphibians:.Key Questions.Introduction.Problems Of Life On Land.Devonian Tetrapods.The Carboniferous World.Diversity Of Carboniferous Tetrapods.Temnospondyls And Reptiliomorphs After The Carboniferous.Evolution Of Modern Amphibians.Further Reading.5. The Evolution Of Early Amniotes:.Key Questions.Introduction.Hylonomus And Paleothyris - Biology Of The First Amniotes.Amniote Evolution.The Permian World.The Early Evolution Of Anapsids And Diapsids.Basal Synapsid Evolution.Mass Extinction.Further Reading.6. Reptiles Of The Triassic:.Key Questions.Introduction.The Triassic Scene.Evolution Of The Archosauromorphs.In Triassic Seas.The Origin Of The Dinosaurs.Further Reading.7. The Evolution Of Fishes After The Devonian:.Key Questions.Introduction.The Early Sharks And Chimaeras.Post-Palaeozoic Chondrichthyan Radiation.The Early Bony Fishes.Radiation Of The Teleosts.Post-Devonian Evolution Of Fishes.Further Reading.8. The Age Of Dinosaurs:.Key Questions.Introduction.Biology Of Plateosaurus.The Jurassic And Cretaceous World.The Diversity Of Saurischian Dinosaurs.The Diversity Of Ornithischian Dinosaurs.Were The Dinosaurs Warm-Blooded Or Not?.Order Terosauria.Order Testudines: The Turtles.Order Crocodylia.Superorder Lepidosauria.The Great Sea Dragons.Diversification Of Jurassic-Cretaceous Reptiles.The KT Event.Further Reading.9. The Birds:.Key Questions.Introduction.Archaeopteryx.The Origin Of Bird Flight.Toothed Birds Of The Cretaceous.The Radiation Of Modern Birds.Flightless Birds: Division Palaeognathae.Division Neognathae.Diversification Of The Birds.Further Reading.10. The Mammals:.Key Questions.Introduction.Cynodonts And The Acquisition Of Mammalian Characters.The First Mammals.The Mesozoic Mammals.The Marsupials.South American Mammals - Another World Apart.The Afrotheria And Break-Up Of Gondwana.The Beginning Of The Age Of Placental Mammals.Basal Laurasiatherians: Insectivores And Bats.Superorder Cetartiodactyla: Cattle, Pigs And Whales.Order Perissodactyla: Grazers And Browsers.Orders Carnivora And Pholidota.Superorder Archonta: Primates, Tree Shrews And Flying Lemurs.Superorder Glires: Rodents, Rabbits And Relatives.Ice Age Extinction Of Large Mammals.The Pattern Of Mammalian Evolution.Further Reading.11. Human Evolution:.Key Questions.Introduction.What Are The Primates?.The Early Fossil Record Of Primates.Superfamily Hominoidea: The Apes.Evolution Of Human Characteristics.The Early Stages Of Human Evolution.The Last Two Million Years Of Human Evolution.Further Reading.Appendix: Classification Of The Vertebrates.Glossary.References.Index