The opening of an exhibit focused on "Jane," a beautifully preserved tyrannosaur collected by the Burpee Museum of Natural History, was the occasion for an international symposium on tyrannosaur paleobiology. This volume, drawn from the symposium, includes studies of the tyrannosaurids Chingkankousaurus fragilis and "Sir William" and the generic status of Nanotyrannus; theropod teeth, pedal proportions, brain size, and craniocervical function; soft tissue reconstruction, including that of "Jane"; paleopathology and tyrannosaurid claws; dating the "Jane" site; and tyrannosaur feeding and hunting strategies. Tyrannosaurid Paleobiology highlights the far ranging and vital state of current tyrannosaurid dinosaur research and discovery.

There are many books on palaeontology, aimed at amateurs, undergraduates and aspiring academics. Perhaps commonest amongst these are guides to fossil identification, from the general (basic texts on fossil variety and morphology) to the specific (field guides to specific groups, localities or horizons). Many of these are readable, comprehensive and provide good advice. This is not such a book - there is more to the subject than just putting a name on a specimen, however important that may be. As the book's title states, this is a practical manual covering the many aspects of palaeontology. It is organised in fifty-three chapters; each chapter focusses on one aspect of palaeontology as viewed with a geologist's trained eye. It can be read from cover-to-cover or dipped into when an answer to a specific question is needed. The aim is to help the developing palaeontologist move their skills on to the next level. It is aimed, primarily, at the beginner in the broadest sense, both amateur and undergraduate. Palaeontologists and geologists are encouraged to use the book as much as a reference as a reader, dipping in to the chapters that contain relevant tips, hints and comments to enable them to improve their understanding of their current interest. It is informative, readable and, most of all, of practical application for all palaeontologists.

One of the leading textbooks in its field, Bringing Fossils to Life applies paleobiological principles to the fossil record while detailing the evolutionary history of major plant and animal phyla. It incorporates current research from biology, ecology, and population genetics, bridging the gap between purely theoretical paleobiological textbooks and those that describe only invertebrate paleobiology and that emphasize cataloguing live organisms instead of dead objects. For this third edition Donald R. Prothero has revised the art and research throughout, expanding the coverage of invertebrates and adding a discussion of new methodologies and a chapter on the origin and early evolution of life.

Vertebrate palaeontology is a lively field, with new discoveries reported every week and not only dinosaurs! This new edition reflects the international scope of vertebrate palaeontology, with a special focus on exciting new finds from China. A key aim is to explain the science. Gone are the days of guesswork. Young researchers use impressive new numerical and imaging methods to explore the tree of life, macroevolution, global change, and functional morphology. The fourth edition is completely revised. The cladistic framework is strengthened, and new functional and developmental spreads are added. Study aids include: key questions, research to be done, and recommendations of further reading and web sites. The book is designed for palaeontology courses in biology and geology departments. It is also aimed at enthusiasts who want to experience the flavour of how the research is done. The book is strongly phylogenetic, and this makes it a source of current data on vertebrate evolution.

This book envisages a multi-proxy approach using stable isotopes, geochemical proxies, magnetic susceptibility and associated biotic events for paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental interpretations of the Mesozoic sedimentary record of India. Mesozoic rocks of India record abnormal sea level rise, greenhouse climate, intensified volcanism, hypoxia in seawater, extensive black shale deposition, and hydrocarbon occurrence. The Mesozoic has also witnessed mass extinction events, evolution of dinosaurs, and breakdown of the supercontinent Pangea and the formation of Gondwana. Although the Mesozoic geology of India has witnessed significant progress in the last century, literature survey reveals a huge gap in knowledge regarding sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy and key geological events. A synthesis of sedimentological, paleontological and chemical data is included to presenting a comprehensive understanding of the Indian Mesozoic record to students, researchers and professionals.

"Special Papers in Palaeontology," published by The Palaeontological Association, is a series of substantial separate works conforming to the style of the "Palaeontology" journal. Two issues are published each year and feature high standard illustrations.Discusses the nature and quality of the conodont fossil record.Brings together researchers, geologists and enthusiasts who continue to find material of significance.Contributors include Walter C. Sweet, Howard A. Armstrong, Oliver Lehnert, James F. Miller and Steven A. Leslie.Includes 3 plates, 9 tables and 79 text-figures.

This volume introduces a model of the expansion of cultural capacity as a systemic approach with biological, historical and individual dimensions. It is contrasted with existing approaches from primatology and behavioural ecology; influential factors like differences in life history and demography are discussed; and the different stages of the development of cultural capacity in human evolution are traced in the archaeological record. The volume provides a synthetic view on a) the different factors and mechanisms of cultural development, and b) expansions of cultural capacities in human evolution beyond the capacities observed in animal culture so far. It is an important topic because only a volume of contributions from different disciplines can yield the necessary breadth to discuss the complex subject. The model introduced and discussed originates in the naturalist context and tries to open the discussion to some culturalist aspects, thus the publication in a series with archaeological and biological emphasis is apt. As a new development the synthetic model of expansion of cultural capacity is introduced and discussed in a broad perspective.

Ichnology is the science of marks, tracks, trails, traces structures and other sources of evidence of biological activity, beyond the living beings themselves, when studied both in continents and oceans. In spite of its scientific value and interdisciplinary contribution, particularly in South America, in the complex task of identifying ancient environments, information is dispersed and sometimes even ignored. This book has recovered the remarkably abundant information that Ichnology of terrestrial environments has incorporated. The studied geographical regions are the Pampas of Argentina, vast lowlands with a wide latitudinal distribution in between the warm and wet subtropical areas and the cold deserts of Patagonia. Pedogenetic processes preserve tracks and marks found in sediments, rock surfaces and soils, revealing the activity of life forms. This book refers to a variety of signs of biological activity, particularly in ancient soils. This volume includes abundant original information and a meticulous revision of paleo-ichnological investigations, most by the author himself, one of the most important South American specialists, during many decades of his dedication to scientific research. The book includes a review of the stratigraphic sequences of the Cenozoic chronostratigraphic scheme. Firstly, the author provides a scrutiny of the continental ichnofacies and the ichnological record of the South American Cenozoic age. This is followed by chapters dedicated to the faunal associations of vertebrates, with very valuable information about the past climatic events and biogeographical changes, of undoubted value for those scholars interested in vertebrate Paleontology. Likewise, the highly relevant ichnotaxonomy is also developed exhaustively, with special reference to the essential activity of insects in the paleosols, mostly ants and termites. Finally, this book presents the most complete, extensive and up-dated bibliography in the subject, which is probably unique as such for southern South America and most of the world. Certainly, this is a book that will provide valuable scientific tools for those specialists interested in this infrequent discipline, either paleontologists, biologists, geologists, pedologists and sedimentologists.

Spinster Mary Anning, uneducated and poor, was of the wrong sex, wrong class and wrong religion, but fate decreed that she was exactly the right person in the right place and time to pioneer the emerging science of palaeontology, the study of fossils. Born in Lyme Regis in 1799, Mary learned to collect fossils with her cabinet-maker father. The unstable cliffs and stealthy sea made the task dangerous but after her father died the sale of fossils sustained her family. Mary's fame started as an infant when she survived a lightning strike that killed the three adults around her. Then, aged twelve, she caught the public's attention when she unearthed the skeleton of a 'fish lizard' or Ichthyosaurus. She later found the first Plesiosaurus giganteus, with its extraordinary long neck associated with the Loch Ness monster, and, dramatically, she unearthed the first, still rare, Dimorphodon macronyx, a frightening 'flying dragon' with hand claws and teeth. Yet her many discoveries were announced to the world by male geologists like the irrepressible William Buckland and Sir Henry De La Beche and they often received the credit. In Jurassic Mary Patricia Pierce redresses this imbalance, bringing to life the extraordinary, little-known story of this determined and pioneering woman.