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<p><b>1 Vertebrates Originate</b></br> 1.1 Sea squirts and the lancelet </br> 1.2 Ambulacraria: echinoderms and hemichordates </br> 1.3 Deuterostome relationships </br> 1.4 Chordate origins </br> 1.5 Vertebrates origins: worm or bag?</p> <p><b>2 How to Study Fossil Vertebrates </b></br> 2.1 Digging up bones </br> 2.2 Publication and professionalism </br> 2.3 Geology and fossil vertebrates </br> 2.4 Biology and fossil vertebrates </br> 2.5 Discovering phylogeny </br> 2.6 Macroevolution </p> <p><b>3 Early Palaeozoic Fishes</b> </br> 3.1 Cambrian vertebrates </br> 3.2 Vertebrate hard tissues </br> 3.3 The jawless fishes </br> 3.4 Origin of jaws </br> 3.5 Placoderms: armour-plated monsters </br> 3.6 Pan-Chondrichthyes: sharks, rays, acanthodians</br> 3.7 Early fish biogeography and environments</br> 3.8 Osteichthyes: the bony fishes </br> 3.9 Early fish evolution and mass extinction </p> <p><b>4 The First Tetrapods </b></br> 4.1 Problems of life on land </br> 4.2 Devonian tetrapods </br> 4.3 The Carboniferous world </br> 4.4 Diversity of Carboniferous tetrapods </br> 4.5 Temnospondyls and reptiliomorphs after the Carboniferous </br> 4.6 E volution of the modern amphibians </p> <p><b>5 Evolution of Early Amniotes</b> </br> 5.1 Hylonomus and Paleothyris -- biology of the first amniotes </br> 5.2 Amniote adaptations for terrestrial life</br> 5.3 The Permian world </br> 5.4 The parareptiles </br> 5.5 The eureptiles </br> 5.6 Early synapsid evolution </br> 5.7 The Permian-Triassic mass extinction </p> <p><b>6 The Triassic Revolution</b></br> 6.1 The Triassic world and the recovery of life </br> 6.2 Triassic marine reptiles </br> 6.3 E volution of the archosauromorphs </br> 6.4 Origin of the dinosaurs </br> 6.5 Amniote evolution in the Triassic </p> <p><b>7 Evolution of Fishes after the Devonian </b></br> 7.1 The early chimaeras and sharks</br> 7.2 Post-Palaeozoic chondrichthyan radiation </br> 7.3 The early bony fishes </br> 7.4 Radiation of the teleosts </br> 7.5 Post-Devonian evolution of fishes </p> <p><b>8 Dinosaurs </b></br> 8.1 Biology of Plateosaurus </br> 8.2 The Jurassic and Cretaceous world </br> 8.3 Saurischians and theropod diversity </br> 8.4 The sauropodomorph dinosaurs </br> 8.5 The diversity of ornithischian dinosaurs</br> 8.6 Were the dinosaurs warm-blooded or not? </p> <p><b>9 The Mesosoic Reptiles</b></br> 9.1 Testudinata: the turtles </br> 9.2 Crocodylomorpha </br> 9.3 Pterosauria </br> 9.4 The great sea dragons </br> 9.5 Lepidosauria: lizards and snakes </br> 9.6 The end-Cretaceous mass extinction </p> <p><b>10 The Birds </b></br> 10.1 The origin of birds </br> 10.2 The origin of bird flight </br> 10.3 Cretaceous birds, with and without teeth </br> 10.4 The radiation of modern birds: explosion or long fuse? </br> 10.5 Flightless birds: palaeognathae </br> 10.6 Neognathae </br> 10.7 The three-phase diversification of birds </p> <p><b>11 Mammals: Origins and Southern Hemisphere Evolution </b></br> 11.1 Cynodonts and the acquisition of mammaliaform characters </br> 11.2 The first mammaliaforms </br> 11.3 The Mesozoic mammaliaforms </br> 11.4 Marsupials down under </br> 11.5 South American mammals -- a world apart </br> 11.6 Afrotheria and the break-up of Gondwana </p> <p><b>12 Mammals of the Northern Hemisphere</b></br> 12.1 Evolution of modern mammals</br> 12.2 Boreoeutherian beginnings: the Palaeocene in the northern hemisphere </br> 12.3 Early diverging laurasiatherians: eulipotyphla </br> 12.4 Scrotifera: bats and relatives</br> 12.5 Cetartiodactyla: cattle, pigs and whales </br> 12.6 Zoomata: horses, carnivores and pangolins </br> 12.7 Glires: rodents, rabbits and relatives </br> 12.8 Archonta: primates, tree shrews and flying lemurs </br> 12.9 Ice age extinction of large mammals </p> <p><b>13 Human Evolution </b></br> 13.1 What are the primates? </br> 13.2 The fossil record of early primates </br> 13.3 Anthropoidea: monkeys and apes </br> 13.4 Hominoidea: the apes </br> 13.5 E volution of human characteristics </br> 13.6 The early stages of human evolution </br> 13.7 The past two million years of human evolution </p> <p><b>Appendix</b></br> Classification of the vertebrates </br> Glossary </br> Index</p>

<p><b>Michael J. Benton, OBE, FRS,</b> is Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol. He is particularly interested in early reptiles, Triassic dinosaurs and macroevolution, and has published over 60 books and 700 scientific articles. He is part of one of the most active palaeontology research groups in the world and has supervised more than 80 PhD students.

<p><b>All-new edition of the world’s leading vertebrate palaeontology textbook, now addressing key evolutionary transitions and ecological drivers for vertebrate evolution</b> <p>Richly illustrated with colour illustrations of the key species and cladograms of all major vertebrate taxa, <i>Vertebrate Palaeontology </i>provides a complete account of the evolution of vertebrates, including macroevolutionary trends and drivers that have shaped their organs and body plans, key transitions such as terrestrialization, endothermy, flight and impacts of mass extinctions on biodiversity and ecological drivers behind the origin of chordates and vertebrates, their limbs, jaws, feathers, and hairs. <p>This revised and updated fifth edition features numerous recent examples of breakthrough discoveries in line with the current macroevolutionary approach in palaeontology research, such as the evolutionary drivers that have shaped vertebrate development. Didactical features have been enhanced and include new functional and developmental feature spreads, key questions, and extensive references to useful websites. <p>Written by a leading academic in the field, <i>Vertebrate Palaeontology </i>discusses topics such as: <ul><li>Palaeozoic fishes, including Cambrian vertebrates, placoderms (‘armour-plated monsters’), Pan-Chondrichthyes such as sharks and rays, and Osteichthyes (‘bony fishes’) </li><li>The first tetrapods, covering problems of life on land, diversity of Carboniferous tetrapods and temnospondyls and reptiliomorphs following the Carboniferous </li><li>Mesozoic reptiles, such as Testudinata (turtles), Crocodylomorpha, Pterosauria, Dinosauria, great sea dragons and Lepidosauria (lizards and snakes) </li><li>Mammals of the southern and northern hemispheres, covering Xenarthra (sloths, anteaters), Afrotheria (African mammals), Laurasiatheria (bats, ungulates, carnivores), and Euarchontoglires (rodents, primates)</li></ul> <p>A highly comprehensive and completely up-to-date reference on vertebrate evolution, <i>Vertebrate Palaeontology</i> is an ideal learning aid for palaeontology courses in biology and geology departments. The text is also highly valuable to enthusiasts who want to experience the flavour of how modern research in the field is conducted.

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