Placing evolutionary events in the context of geological time is a fundamental goal in paleobiology and macroevolution. In this Element we describe the tripartite model used for Bayesian estimation of time calibrated phylogenetic trees. The model can be readily separated into its component models: the substitution model, the clock model and the tree model. We provide an overview of the most widely used models for each component and highlight the advantages of implementing the tripartite model within a Bayesian framework.

This book is devoted to the ichnology of insects, and associated trace fossils, in soils and paleosols. The traces described here, mostly nests and pupation chambers, include one of the most complex architectures produced by animals. Chapters explore the walls, shapes and fillings of trace fossils followed by their classifications and ichnotaxonomy. Detailed descriptions and interpretations for different groups of insects like bees, ants, termites, dung beetles and wasps are also provided. Chapters also highlight the the paleoenvironmental significance of insect trace fossils in paleosols for paleontological reconstructions, sedimentological interpretation, and ichnofabrics analysis. Readers will discover how insect trace fossils act as physical evidence for reconstructing the evolution of behavior, phylogenies, past geographical distributions, and to know how insects achieved some of the more complex architectures. The book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in ichnology, sedimentology, paleopedology, and entomology and readers interested in insect architecture.

A study of the palaeoethnobotany of Kashmir, covering covers the period from 4500 BP to 1000 BP. It includes keys to the identification of various species of Triticum, Hordeum, Avena and Prunus, and hard and soft woods, and lists the criteria for identification of weed seeds of some 200 species.

A magisterial exploration of the natural history of the first four thousand million years of life on and in the earth, by one of Britain's most dazzling science writers. What do any of us know about the history of our planet before the arrival of man? Most of us have a dim impression of a swirling mass of dust solidifying to form a volcanic globe, briefly populated by dinosaurs, then by woolly mammoths and finally by our own hairy ancestors. This book, aimed at the curious and intelligent but perhaps mildly uninformed reader, brilliantly dispels such lingering notions forever. At the end of the book we understand the complexity of the history of life on earth, and the complexity of how it has come to be understood, as, perhaps, from no other single volume. The result is enthralling.

The World Archaeological Congress meetings in Southampton in September 1986 included a series of sessions on the problems of Pleistocene archaeology. The chapters in this book derive from some of those discussions. In particular, this volume focuses on the problems facing prehistorians and palaeoanthropologists when trying to understand the long-term evolution of human behaviour and the patterns observable in the fossil and archaeological record of a period of time stretching over several million years. It aims to illustrate the diversity of approaches and concepts that are required to investigate the evolution of the characteristics of human behaviour - technology, language, symbol use, cultural traditions, social relationships, hunting, gathering and food production. The approaches presented range from comparisons with non-human primates to the use of ethnographic data and computer simulations, as well as demographic, psychological and evolutionary models.

This text has been extensively revised to reflect new developments in a rapidly changing field. It reviews techniques for reconstruction of ancient environments, taking up the biological, chemical and physical principles of each technique. Coverage has been broadened to include more material from micropaleontology, vertebrate paleontology and paleobotany. Case studies have been added to describe paleogeologic procedures in greater depth.

This book represents the first comprehensive attempt to bring to western scholarship the great advances made in Paleolithic archaeology and palaeoanthropology in the People's Republic of China. The 15 chapters are devoted to a historical overview of past and recent studies, the development of chronological frameworks, the composition and stratigraphy of vertebrate fauna, the pongid and hominid palaeontological records, and Pleistocene prehistoric archaeology. Maps, illustrations and tables illustrate the materials presented here.

This book focuses on the problems of the Quaternary in South America and Antarctic Peninsula, with a strong emphasis in the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic approach. It is based on contributions presented at the South American Regional Meeting held in Neuquen, Argentina.

This volume contains abstracts of all papers presented at the International Echinoderms Conferences, and complete papers of those which were submitted for publication and accepted upon recommendation of referees.

Plants in Mesozoic Time showcases the latest research of broad botanical and paleontological interest from the world s experts on Mesozoic plant life. Each chapter covers a special aspect of a particular plant group ranging from horsetails to ginkgophytes, from cycads to conifers and relates it to key innovations in structure, phylogenetic relationships, the Mesozoic flora, or to animals such as plant-eating dinosaurs. The book s geographic scope ranges from Antarctica and Argentina to the western interior of North America, with studies on the reconstruction of the Late Jurassic vegetation of the Morrison Formation and on fossil angiosperm lianas from Late Cretaceous deposits in Utah and New Mexico. The volume also includes cutting-edge studies on the evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo") of Mesozoic forests, the phylogenetic analysis of the still enigmatic bennettitaleans, and the genetic developmental controls of the oldest flowers in the fossil record."

This book is an outcome of the European colloquium on Echinoderms held at Brussels in 1979. It is divided into three major sections: paleontology, skeletal structures, and systematics and zoogeography. The book is useful for zoologists, scientists in zoology, and academics.

Showcases the work of twenty leading paleoartists who expertly bring these extinct animals to life in exquisite detail. Dinosaurs are endlessly fascinating to people of every age, from the youngest child who enjoys learning the tongue-twisting names to adults who grew up with Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs. As our knowledge of the prehistoric world continues to evolve and grow, so has the discipline of bringing these ancient worlds to life artistically. Paleoart puts flesh on the bones of long-extinct organisms, and illustrates the world they lived in. Mesozoic Art presents twenty of the best artists working in this field, representing a broad spectrum of disciplines, from traditional painting to cutting-edge digital technology. Some provide the artwork for new scientific papers that demand high-end paleoart as part of their presentation to the world at large; they also work for the likes of National Geographic and provide art to museums around the world to illustrate their displays. Other artists are the new rising stars of paleoart in an ever-growing, ever-diversifying field. Arranged by portfolio, this book brings this dramatic art to a wide, contemporary audience. The art is accompanied by text on the animals and their lives, written by palaeontologist Darren Naish. Paleoart is dynamic, fluid and colourful, as were the beasts it portrays, which are displayed in this magnificent book.

This is the past as we've never seen it before. Otherlands is an epic, exhilarating journey into deep time, showing us the Earth as it used to exist, and the worlds that were here before ours.

Award-winning young palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday immerses us in a series of ancient landscapes, from the mammoth steppe in Ice Age Alaska to the lush rainforests of Eocene Antarctica, with its colonies of giant penguins, to Ediacaran Australia, where the moon is far brighter than ours today. We visit the birthplace of humanity; we hear the crashing of the highest waterfall the Earth has ever known; and we watch as life emerges again after the asteroid hits, and the age of the mammal dawns.

Otherlands is a staggering imaginative feat: an emotional narrative that underscores the tenacity of life - yet also the fragility of seemingly permanent ecosystems, including our own. To read it is to see the last 500 million years not as an endless expanse of unfathomable time, but as a series of worlds, simultaneously fabulous and familiar.

Jean Octave Edmond Perrier was a French zoologist who lived through the tumult of British Darwinism and Lyellism, and reminds us in this revealing account that French scientists had much to contribute to such perennial topics as evolution, catastrophism and creationism. While very much a product of the Third Republic, Perrier's account also aimed to outline timeless issues and permanent advances in taxonomic and developmental biology since classical Greece and Rome. In this aim he succeeds with surprisingly modern perspectives for a book first published in 1884. Perrier was born May 9, 1844 at Tulle, the son of the principal of a school which now bears his name, Lycee Edmond Perrier. In 1864 he was accepted to the Ecole Normale Superieure, where he was strongly influenced by Louis Pasteur and Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. After working for three years at a high school in Agen, he obtained a post of naturalist-aid at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (1868), advancing in that institution to Chair of Natural History of Molluscs, Worms and Corals (1876-1903) and then Director of the museum (1900-1919) and Chair of Comparative Anatomy (1903-1921). Previous directors of the museum included many of the scientists he discusses in this book: George Cuvier (1822-1823, 1826-1827, 1830-1831), Isidore Geoffrey St Hilaire (1860- 1861), and Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1891-1900). Perrier's own research on echinoderms and earthworms took him on several expeditions in 1880-1885, mostly to Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, but also to the Caribbean."

The Chesapeake Miocene will always be considered a paleontological treasure. Given the richness and accessibility of the Maryland and Virginia Miocene shell beds, it seems remarkable that very few people have ever described new species from these strata over the past 185 years. Until now. Integrating elements from paleontology, geology, environmental science, and ecology, Molluscan Paleontology of the Chesapeake Miocene assembles previous research and the authors? experience into a synoptic field guide.

The most complete compendium of Miocene species created since 1904, this long-awaited resource lists nearly 500 species. It contains illustrations of 260 species, including more than 60 not found in any previous book and 26 newly discovered. It describes Chesapeake molluscan faunas in terms of local geology, paleoceanography, and marine paleobiology. Organized by stratigraphic geology, the book covers fossils of the Eastover, St Mary?s, Choptank, and Calvert Formations. It illustrates 24 collecting sites and fossil exposures, showing details of in situ specimens, along with maps of 4 Miocene paleoseas and detailed stratigraphic columns for Maryland and northern Virginia. The text is accompanied by a CD-ROM with color illustrations of the forty known species of ecphora shells. Armed with these, you should be able to identify the species found in the amazingly rich shell beds of the Chesapeake Bay area.

The emphasis in this volume is on the structure and functional design of the integument. The book starts with a brief introduction to some basic principles of physics (mechanics) including Newton's Three Laws of Motion. These principles are subsequently used to interpret the problems animals encounter in motion. It is in only the last 40 or so years that we have begun to understand how important a role the integument plays in the locomotion of many marine vertebrates. This involves the crossed-fiber architecture, which was first discovered in a classic study on nemertean worms. As a design principle we see that the crossed-fiber architecture is ubiquitous in nature. Research on some of the most dynamic marine vertebrates of the oceans - tuna, dolphins and sharks, and the extinct Jurassic ichthyosaurs - shows precisely how the crossed-fiber architecture contributes to high-speed swimming and (in lamnid sharks) may even aid in energy conservation. However, this design principle is not restricted to animals in the marine biota but is also found as far afield as the dinosaurs and, most recently, has been revealed as a major part of the microstructure of the most complex derivative of the integument, the feather. We see that a variety of phylogenetically diverse vertebrates take to the air by using skin flaps to glide from tree to tree or to the ground, and present detailed descriptions of innovations developed in pursuit of improved gliding capabilities in both extinct and modern day gliders. But the vertebrate integument had even greater things in store, namely true or flapping flight. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to use the integument as a membrane in true flapping flight and these interesting extinct animals are discussed on the basis of past and cutting-edge research , most intriguingly with respect to the structure of the flight membrane. Bats, the only mammals that fly, also employ integumental flight membranes. Classic research on bat flight is reviewed and supplemented with the latest research, which shows the complexities of the wing beat cycle to be significantly different from that of birds, as revealed by particle image velocimetry. The book's largest chapter is devoted to birds, given that they make up nearly half of the over 22,000 species of tetrapods. The flight apparatus of birds is unique in nature and is described in great detail, with innovative research highlighting the complexity of the flight structures, bird flight patterns, and behavior in a variety of species. This is complimented by new research on the brains of birds, which shows that they are more complex than previously thought. The feather made bird flight possible, and was itself made possible by -keratin, contributing to what may be a unique biomechanical microstructure in nature, a topic discussed in some depth. A highly polarized subject concerns the origin of birds and of the feather. Alleged fossilized protofeathers (primal simple feathers) are considered on the basis of histological and taphonomic investigative studies in Chapter 6. Finally, in Chapter 7 we discuss the controversies associated with this field of research. Professor Theagarten Lingham-Soliar works at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth and is an Honorary Professor of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The burnt-red badlands of Montana's Hell Creek are a vast graveyard of the Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived 68 million years ago. Those hills were, much later, also home to the Sioux, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, the first people to encounter the dinosaur fossils exposed by the elements. What did Native Americans make of these stone skeletons, and how did they explain the teeth and claws of gargantuan animals no one had seen alive? Did they speculate about their deaths? Did they collect fossils? Beginning in the East, with its Ice Age monsters, and ending in the West, where dinosaurs lived and died, this richly illustrated and elegantly written book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stories, they visualized the remains of extinct mammoths, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine creatures as Monster Bears, Giant Lizards, Thunder Birds, and Water Monsters. Their insights, some so sophisticated that they anticipate modern scientific theories, were passed down in oral histories over many centuries. Drawing on historical sources, archaeology, traditional accounts, and extensive personal interviews, Adrienne Mayor takes us from Aztec and Inca fossil tales to the traditions of the Iroquois, Navajos, Apaches, Cheyennes, and Pawnees. Fossil Legends of the First Americans represents a major step forward in our understanding of how humans made sense of fossils before evolutionary theory developed.

This anthology is a compilation of the best contributions from Symbolic Species Conferences I, II (which took place in 2006, 2007).

In 1997 the American anthropologist Terrence Deacon published The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of Language and the Brain. The book is widely considered a seminal work in the subject of evolutionary cognition. However, Deacons book was the first step further steps have had to be taken. The proposed anthology is such an important associate.

The contributions are written by a wide variety of scholars each with a unique view on evolutionary cognition and the questions raised by Terrence Deacon - emergence in evolution, the origin of language, the semiotic 'missing link', Peirce's semiotics in evolution and biology, biosemiotics, evolutionary cognition, Baldwinian evolution, the neuroscience of linguistic capacities as well as phylogeny of the homo species, primatology, embodied cognition and knowledge types. "

The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, a series of thirty-seven incredible sculptures of prehistoric animals and geological displays, were unveiled to the public as part of the famous Crystal Palace Park in 1854. The display, which includes iconic depictions of rhinoceros-like dinosaurs, regal extinct mammals, serpentine marine reptiles and giant, frog-like amphibians, captured a snapshot of palaeontology from a golden era of scientific discovery in the mid-nineteenth century. Today, they are internationally recognized as a milestone in our portrayals of extinct life. This book celebrates these classic scientific artworks and explores: their history, their conception as a wider part of the Crystal Palace project, their execution using unorthodox building materials, their reception by nineteenth century and modern critics, and their enduring mysteries. Hundreds of historic and modern photos and original paintings show modern scientific visions of the extinct animals restored. Written in collaboration with and in support of the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs charity, this superb book gives the most detailed and complete history of these world-famous sculptures yet, reinforcing their status as masterworks of education and palaeoartistry.

"Hulbert's book provides the first comprehensive review of the fossil vertebrates of Florida, which has one of the richest Cenozoic fossil records of any state in the country. It will be an essential addition to the library of all professional paleontologists, students, and amateurs interested in the history of fossil vertebrates in Florida and the southeastern United States."-- Gary S. Morgan, assistant curator of paleontology, New Mexico Museum of Natural History

"A wonderful mix of technical, state-of-the-art information . . . with commentary on everyday fossils that all may have experienced at one time or another. The book is both for the serious student of vertebrate paleontology and for anyone who has an interest in the fossils that may be encountered in Florida."-- David P. Whistler, curator of vertebrate paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Illustrated with hundreds of photographs and drawings, this authoritative yet readable book describes the fossil vertebrates found in Florida--many unique to the state--and summarizes more than 100 years of paleontological discoveries and research. It bridges the sometimes disconnected worlds of the professional paleontologist and the avocational collector and hobbyist.
Florida has the richest vertebrate fossil record of any state east of the Mississippi, extending back 45 million years. Beginning with an introduction to vertebrate anatomy, Richard Hulbert describes the geological history of the state and the history of vertebrate life in it. He then addresses such questions as what animals lived in Florida, how they are related to one another and to living animals, when they first appeared and when many of them became extinct, what they ate, and what they tell us about past environments.

All types of vertebrates are covered, including sharks and other fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. In addition to exceptionally detailed illustrations (many published for the first time), the book includes a comprehensive list of every verified fossil species ever collected in Florida.

Based on the popular Plaster Jacket series of pamphlets written by renowned natural scientists and published by the Florida Paleontological Society, "The Fossil Vertebrates of Florida" brings information from the last 30 years into an up-to-date, greatly expanded, cohesive book form.

"Contributors"
Norman Tessman (sharks, carnivores)
Elizabeth S. Wing (skates and rays and, with Camm Swift, bony fish)
Walter Auffenberg (snakes, turtles, crocodilians)
S. David Webb (proboscideans, peccaries, edentates, camels, ruminants)
Robert A. Martin (aquatic rodents)
John Waldrop (horses)
Jesse S. Robertson (bison)
Roy H. Reinhart (sea cows)
Steve P. Christman (rattlesnakes)
Clayton E. Ray (seals and walruses)
Gary S. Morgan (whales and, with Ann E. Pratt, marine mammals)
Bruce J. MacFadden (rhinoceroses)
Jon A. Baskin (saber-tooth carnivores)
Annalisa Berta (dogs)
Jonathan J. Becker (birds)
Peter A. Meylan (amphibians and reptiles)

Richard C. Hulbert, Jr., collection manager for the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, is the author or coauthor of 30 essays and monographs published in scholarly journals, including "Nature, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology," and "Journal of Paleontology."

Plant remains can preserve a critical part of history of life on Earth. While telling the fascinating evolutionary story of plants and vegetation across the last 500 million years, this book also crucially offers non-specialists a practical guide to studying, dealing with and interpreting plant fossils. It shows how various techniques can be used to reveal the secrets of plant fossils and how to identify common types, such as compressions and impressions. Incorporating the concepts of evolutionary floras, this second edition includes revised data on all main plant groups, the latest approaches to naming plant fossils using fossil-taxa and techniques such as tomography. With extensive illustrations of plant fossils and living plants, the book encourages readers to think of fossils as once-living organisms. It is written for students on introductory or intermediate courses in palaeobotany, palaeontology, plant evolutionary biology and plant science, and for amateurs interested in studying plant fossils.

Late Quaternary Environmental Change: Physical and Human Perspectives
Martin Bell and Michael J. C. Walker
Second edition
"Late Quaternary Environmental Change" considers the interaction between human agency and other environmental factors in the landscape. This second edition has been extensively revised, rewritten and reillustrated to take account of remarkable developments in Quaternary Science and Archaeology over the last twelve years. The book deals largely with events over the course of the last 25, 000 years during which the climate of the mid- and high-latitude regions of the world shifted from one of arctic severity to warmer regimes of the present interglacial period. The natural environmental changes of this period were accompanied by equally dramatic human social change, as environments were increasingly transformed by human activities, leading to the creation of cultural landscapes.
Key features

• Environmental changes, particularly in the northern temperate zone, are examined at a range of temporal and spatial scales.
• An ecological dynamic approach is adopted in which the role of human agency is seen as part of a spectrum of interacting disturbance factors.
• Integration of scientific and social perspectives is given particular emphasis through consideration of the nature of environmental changes and how they were perceived.
• New perspectives are provided for current debates on future environmental management and the formulation of sustainable strategies and conservation policies.

This text will be essential reading for students in archaeology, geography, environmental science, geology, history andenvironmental conservation. It will also be of interest to professional archaeologists, and anyone with an interest in the study of archaeology and environmental history.
Martin Bell is Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Reading, UK where he teaches Geoarchaeology and Environmental Archaeology.
Mike Walker is Professor of Quaternary Science at the University of Wales, Lampeter, UK.

The growth history of a brachiopod is entombed in its shell and internally there is a huge range of differing structures and morphological detail used by several authors as examples of ontogenetic and evolutionary change, as indicators of taxonomic relationships or discussion concerning micro-structural shell morphology. Population studies of living and fossil species and strands of recent progress in molecular phylogeny are all presented.
This single compilation, an up-to-the minute resume of knowledge and research into brachiopods, is a must for postgraduate students and researchers in evolution, zoology, geology, palaeontology and related fields.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203210433

Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. Now comes a book from two dedicated investigators that explores and elucidates the fascinating world of cryptozoology.

Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero have written an entertaining, educational, and definitive text on cryptids, presenting the arguments both for and against their existence and systematically challenging the pseudoscience that perpetuates their myths. After examining the nature of science and pseudoscience and their relation to cryptozoology, Loxton and Prothero take on Bigfoot; the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, and its cross-cultural incarnations; the Loch Ness monster and its highly publicized sightings; the evolution of the Great Sea Serpent; and Mokele Mbembe, or the Congo dinosaur. They conclude with an analysis of the psychology behind the persistent belief in paranormal phenomena, identifying the major players in cryptozoology, discussing the character of its subculture, and considering the challenge it poses to clear and critical thinking in our increasingly complex world.