Gaining ground : the origin and evolution of tetrapods / Jennifer A. Clack.
Edition:
2nd ed.
Publisher:
Indiana University Press,
Copyright Date:
c2012
Description:
523 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 27 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 447-470) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: The origin of tetrapods -- Skulls and skeletons in transition -- Relationships and relatives : the lobe-fin family -- Setting the scene : the devonian world -- The first feet : tetrapods of the famennian -- From fins to feet : transformation and transition -- Emerging into the carboniferous : the first phase -- East kirkton and the roots of the modern family tree -- The late carboniferous : expanding horizons -- Gaining ground : the evolution of terrestriality.
Summary:
"Around 370 million years ago, a distant relative of a modern lungfish began a most extraordinary adventure -- emerging from the water and laying claim to the land. Over the next 70 million years, this tentative beachhead had developed into a worldwide colonization by ever-increasing varieties of four-limbed creatures known as tetrapods, the ancestors of all vertebrate life on land. This new edition of Jennifer A. Clack's groundbreaking book tells the complex story of their emergence and evolution. Beginning with their closest relatives, the lobe-fin fishes such as lungfishes and coelacanths, Clack defines what a tetrapod is, describes their anatomy, and explains how they are related to other vertebrates. She looks at the Devonian environment in which they evolved, describes the known and newly discovered species, and explores the order and timing of anatomical changes that occurred during the fish-to-tetrapod transition."--Publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.