Journey through the Cenozoic: Tetrapod faunas 66 million years in the making

Description:

Around 66 million years ago, the dinosaurs (with the exception of their descendants, the birds) disappeared from the face of the Earth. The ensuing Cenozoic Era, or the “Age of Mammals”, which continues to the present day, has been a dramatic interval in Earth’s geological history, marked by profound climatic shifts, including periods of warming and cooling, and the remarkable evolutionary radiation of mammals and other tetrapod groups, which rivalled and, in some cases, surpassed the diversity of their Mesozoic predecessors. A uniquely structured guide, this book is the most extensive and lavishly illustrated volume devoted to the evolutionary history of Cenozoic tetrapods. Following a foreword by Michael J. Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol, the author begins by introducing readers to the fundamentals of phylogeny, the evolution of all the Cenozoic tetrapod groups, and the principles involved in reconstructing fossil tetrapods. The book is subsequently organised as a visually captivating journey through time framed around key fossil sites from across the globe. These windows into the deep past reveal the Earth as it once existed, the worlds that preceded ours, and the tetrapods that inhabited them from millions to thousands of years ago. Readers are immersed in a series of ancient environments - from the warm, humid Paleocene rainforests of North America, with their bizarre “archaic” placental mammal lineages, to the cold steppe-tundra of Late Pleistocene Europe, roamed by herds of grazing megaherbivores. The text is supported by original and scientifically accurate colour illustrations of extinct tetrapod species by the author; most recreations of individual species are featured within a wealth of stylised and informative phylogenetic trees. Authoritative and comprehensive, yet insightful and up to date, this book is an indispensable reference that should appeal to a wide audience, including both academics and the average layperson. Key Features:

* Explore 43 fossil faunas from around the world.

* Over 900 extinct Cenozoic tetrapod species reconstructed, some individually, others as part of the composition for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.

* Accounts and illustrations of all the major clades of Cenozoic tetrapods.