Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs Origins, Evolution and Structure

About this book

The fossil record on Mesozoic mammals has expanded by orders of magnitude over the past quarter century. New specimens, some of them breathtakingly complete, have poured in from almost all parts of the globe. These discoveries, together with the application of new scientific approaches and techniques, have led to profound changes in our interpretation of early mammal history. Mesozoic mammals have come into their own as an important, rich source of information for evolutionary biology in general. Their record of episodic, successive radiations speaks to the pace and mode of evolution. Early mammals were small, but they provide key information on the morphological transformations that led to modern mammals, including our own lineage of Placentalia. Early mammals were significant and fast-evolving elements of the terrestrial biota for much of the Mesozoic, and they have played an increasingly important role in studies of paleoecology, faunal turnover, and historical biogeography. The record of early mammals occupies center stage with regard to testing molecular evolutionary hypotheses on the timing and sequence of mammalian radiations.

Organized around their phylogeny, Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs thoroughly covers all aspects of the anatomy, paleobiology, and systematics of early mammalian groups, in addition to the extant lineages with long history extending back into Mesozoic. Numerous detailed maps and line drawings enhance the text.

Contents

Foreword, by J. A. Lillegraven and W. A. Clemens
Prologue

1. Introduction
2. Distribution: Mesozoic Mammals in Space and Time
3. Origin of Mammals
4. The Earliest-Known Stem Mammals
5. Docodontans
6. Australosphenida and Shotherium
7. Eutriconodontans
8. Allotherians
9. "Symmetrodontans" (Stem Trechnotherians)
10. "Eupantotherians" (Stem Cladotherians)
11. "Tribotherians" (Stem Boreosphenidans)
12. Metatherians
13. Eutherians
14. Gondwanatherians
15. Interrelationships of Mesozoic Mammals

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Biography

Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska is professor emeritus at the Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the University of Oslo. She was the leader of the Polish-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert (1963--1971) that discovered spectacular dinosaurs and mammals. She has devoted most of her scientific life to the studies of Mesozoic mammals.

Richard L. Cifelli is the curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at the University of Oklahoma. He has led extensive field explorations of fossil vertebrates in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic of North and South Americas and studied the biogeographical and faunal evolution of early mammals.

Zhe-Xi Luo is the curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. He has actively explored fossil mammals and dinosaurs in China and in the United States and studied evolutionary morphology and phylogenetic relationships of early mammals and fossil whales.