Early Vertebrates [Paperback]

This book presents current knowledge of the early vertebrates--mainly fish, but including some terrestrial creatures--which lived about 250 to 470 million years ago. The work focuses on anatomical and phylogenetic questions, but includes information on fossil discovery and preparation, as well as the analysis of the characteristics from which their relationships may be reconstructed. The author addresses both new and old problems in the evolution of certain anatomical details and deals briefly with the animals' way of life, extinction, and former distribution. The book is the first in its field to use a cladistic approach. For each major vertebrate group, the reader will find a diagram of relationships, or cladogram, with a selection of characters at each node, and a succinct phylogenetic classification.

1. What, Where and When? Early Vertebrates as We Imagine Them
2. From Rocks to Theories: Techniques of Preparation and Methods of Analysis
3. A Look at Extant Vertebrates
4. Early Vertebrates and Their Extant Relatives
5. Interrelationships of the Major Craniate Taxa: Current Phylogenetic Theories and Controversies
6. Anatomical Philosophy: Homologies, Transformations and Character Phylogenies
7. Evolution and Life History
8. Women, Men, and Early Vertebrates

The writing is lucid and Janvier eases the reader's way. . . . an excellent book that should become a classic in the field. --The Quarterly Review of Biology

Philipe Janvier has excelled himself with this landmark publication, which surely ranks as a modern classic. No other textbook has dealt so clearly with the origins and early evolution of vertebrates. Each chapter is lucidly written and important anatomical features are clearly illustrated, providing just the right level of technical information without getting bogged down with details. Competing evolutionary relationships are cleverly depicted on opposite sides of certain illustrations, driving hlc‘