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This beautifully illustrated volume describes the entire flora and fauna of the famous Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil – one of the world's most important fossil deposits, exhibiting exceptional preservation. A wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates are covered, including extended sections on pterosaurs and insects. Two chapters are devoted to plants. Many of the chapters include descriptions of new species and re-descriptions and appraisals of taxa published in obscure places, rendering them available to a wider audience. Fossil descriptions are supported by detailed explanations of the geological history of the deposit and its tectonic setting. Drawing on expertise from around the world and specimens from the most important museum collections, this book forms an essential reference for researchers and enthusiasts with an interest in Mesozoic fossils.
Part I. The Crato Formation Konservat Lagerstatte
1. Introduction to the Crato Formation / David M. Martill
2. The geology of the crato formation / David M. Martill
3. Stratigraphy of the Crato Formation / David M. Martill and Ulrich Heimhofer
4. The sedimentology and depositional environment of the Crato Formation / Ulrich Heimhofer and David M. Martill
5. Commercial exploitation of the Crato Formation / Artur Andrade
Part II. The invertebrate fauna
6. Preparation techniques for Crato Formation fossils / Michael Schwickert
7. Taphonomy and preservation of Crato Formation arthropods / Federica Menon and David M. Martill
8. Chilopoda - centipedes / David M. Martill
9. Arachnida - spiders, scorpions and allies / Jason A. Dunlop, Paul Selden and Federica Menon
10. Crustacea of the Crato Formation / Gunter Schweigert, David M. Martill and Mark Williams
11. Insects of the Crato Formation / Günter Bechly, Arnold Staniczek, Rainer Willman, Fabian Haas, David A. Grimaldi, Sam W. Heads, Rafael Gioia Martins-Neto, Federica Menon, Sam W. Heads, Jacek Szwedo, Yuri A. Popov, Karin Wolf-Schwenninger, Wolfgang Schawaller, Till Osten and Jana Willkommen
Part III. The vertebrate fauna
12. The Crato Formation fish fauna / Paulo M. Brito
13. Anurans of the Crato Formation / Maria Eduarda Leal, David M. Martill and Paulo M. Brito
14. Turtles of the Crato Formation / Darren Naish
15. Lizards of the Crato Formation / David M. Martill
16. Crocodilians of the Crato Formation: evidence for enigmatic species / Eberhard 'Dino' Frey and Steven Walter Salisbury
17. Pterosaurs of the Crato Formation / David M. Unwin and David M. Martill
18. Birds of the crato formation / Darren Naish, David M. Martill and Ian Merrick
Part IV. The Flora
19. Flora / Barbara A. R. Mohr, Mary E. C. Bernardes-de-Oliveira and Robert F. Loveridge
20. Spores and pollen from the Crato Formation: biostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental implications / David J. Batten
Part V. Miscellanea
21. Miscellaneous biota / David M. Martill
Appendix: Species list for the crato formation
Systematic index
David Martill is a Reader in Palaeobiology in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, where his research interests include the palaeobiology of pterosaurs and exceptional preservation of fossil vertebrates. He is the author of several other books and has appeared in several television series including the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs.
Günter Bechley is Curator for amber and fossil insects at the Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde in Stuttgart, Germany, where his research projects include the phylogenetic system of fossil and recent damselflies and dragonflies. He has authored several books in German and English and has appeared in television series in Germany and Norway.
Robert Loveridge is a Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. He is a botanist with interests in the botanical treatment of sewerage and environmental protection, as well as palaeontology. He is a skilled photographer and is responsible for many of the beautiful images in this book.
"Preservation here is so good that even the detailed colour patterning on its outstretched wings is still evident. The editors of this 'Window into an Ancient World' (along with the publishers Cambridge University Press) are to be congratulated on producing such an attractive and useful work which will, no doubt, join OUP's Messel book, the Smithsonian's book on Florissant, etc., on our library shelves for years to come."
– Geological Magazine
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