Numerous illustrations
"Ancient Marine Reptiles provides an encyclopedic overview of major research
accomplishments and frontiers in this new age. Editors Jack Callaway and Elizabeth Nicholls
are important figures whose research collectively encompasses the majority of major marine
reptile taxa and employs a broad range of methodologies. This volume will be a useful general
reference to students and researchers seeking an introduction to the morphology, systematics,
and faunal compositions of Mesozoic marine reptiles and will orient the reader to the range
of research philosophies embraced by specialists in the field. Several contributions seem
destined to become heavily cited [and] a lively interest in the reconstruction of evolutionary
history is apparent through most of the volume. Callaway and Nicholls should be warmly
thanked for placing contemporary marine reptile paleontology in the context of a scientific
campaign that has continued for nearly two centuries and profoundly affected the general
course of evolutionary sciences."
Systematic Biology
Vertebrate evolution has led to the convergent appearance of many groups of
originally terrestrial animals that now live in the sea. Among these groups are familiar
mammals like whales, dolphins, and seals. There are also reptilian lineages (like
plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, thalattosaurs, and others) that have become
sea creatures. Most of these marine reptiles, often wrongly called "dinosaurs", are
extinct. This edited book is devoted to these extinct groups of marine reptiles. These
reptilian analogs represent useful models of the myriad adaptations that permit
tetrapods to live in the ocean.
Contents
M.A. Taylor , Foreword.
Ichthyosauria:
J.M. Callaway , Introduction.
P.M. Sander , The paleobiogeography of Shastasaurus.
J.M. Callaway , A New Look at Mixosaurus.
C. McGowan , A Transitional Ichthyosaur Fauna.
R. Motani , Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Tooth Implantation in Ichthyosaurs.
Sauropterygia:
O.C. Rieppel , Introduction.
O.C. Rieppel and H. Hagdorn , Paleobiology of Middle Triassic Sauropterygia in Central and Western Europe.
G.W. Storrs , Morphologic and Taxonomic Clarification of the Genus Plesiosaurus.
K. Carpenter , Comparative Cranial Anatomy of Two North American Cretaceous Plesiosaurs.
Testudines:
E.L. Nicholls , Introduction.
R. Hirayama , Distribution and Diversity of Cretaceous Chelonoids.
D.K. Elliott, G.V. Irby, and J.H. Hutchison, Desmatochelys Iowa , a Marine Turtle from the Upper Cretaceous.
R.T.J. Moody , The Paleogeography of Marine and Coastal Turtles of the North Atlantic and Trans-Saharan Regions.
Mosasauridae:
G.L. Bell, Jr. , Introduction.
G.L. Bell, Jr. , Phylogenetic Revision of North American and Adriatic Mosasauridea.
A. Sheldon , Ecological Implications of Mosasaur Bone Microstructure.
Crocodylia:
S. Hua and E. Buffetaut , Introduction.
R.K. Denton, Jr., J.L. Dobie, and D.C. Parris , The Marine Crocodile, Hyposaurus, in North America.
Faunas, Behavior, and Evolution:
J.A. Massare , Introduction.
S.G. Lucas , Marine Reptiles and Mesozoic Biochronology.
Z. Gasparini and M. Fernandez , Tithonian Marine Reptiles of the Eastern Pacific.
R. Collin and C.M. Janis , Morphological Constraints on Tetropod Feeding Mechanisms: Why Were There No Suspenion-Feeding Marine Reptiles?
R.L. Carroll , Mesozoic Marine Reptiles as Models of Long Term, Large-Scale Evolutionary Phenomena.
Subject Index.
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Academic Press
: Autumn 2003
: animal science
: evolution
