The Lawrence Jacobsen Library
Books Received (Primate-Science/PrimateLit)

MAMMALS FROM THE AGE OF DINOSAURS: ORIGINS, EVOLUTION, AND STRUCTURE

By: Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo

(Taken from the Columbia University Press online catalog entry)
The fossil record on Mesozoic mammals has expanded by orders of magnitude
over the past quarter century. New specimens, some of them breathtakingly
complete, have been found in nearly all parts of the globe at a rapid pace.
Coupled with the application of new scientific approaches and techniques,
these exciting discoveries have led to profound changes in our
interpretation of early mammal history.

Mesozoic mammals have come into their own as a rich source of information
for evolutionary biology. Their record of episodic, successive radiations
speaks to the pace and mode of evolution. Early mammals were small, but
they provide key information on the morphological transformations that led
to modern mammals, including our own lineage of Placentalia. Significant
and fast-evolving elements of the terrestrial biota for much of the
Mesozoic, early mammals have played an increasingly important role in
studies of paleoecology, faunal turnover, and historical biogeography. The
record of early mammals occupies center stage for testing molecular
evolutionary hypotheses on the timing and sequence of mammalian radiations.

Organized according to phylogeny, this book covers all aspects of the
anatomy, paleobiology, and systematics of all early mammalian groups, in
addition to the extant mammalian lineages extending back into the Mesozoic.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

(Taken from the Columbia University Press online catalog entry)
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska is professor emeritus at the Institute of
Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and the University of
Oslo. She was the leader of the Polish-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi
Desert (1963-1971) that discovered spectacular dinosaurs and mammals. She
has devoted most of her scientific life to the studies of the Mesozoic
mammals.

Richard L. Cifelli is curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Oklahoma
Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at the University of
Oklahoma. He has led extensive field explorations of fossil vertebrates in
the Mesozoic and Cenozoic of North and South Americas and studied the
biogeographical and faunal evolution of early mammals.

Zhe-Xi Luo is curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of
Natural History in Pittsburgh. He has actively explored fossil mammals and
dinosaurs in China and in the United States and studied evolutionary
morphology and phylogenetic relationships of early mammals and fossil whales.

CONTENTS

Foreword By: Jason Lillegraven and William A. Clemens           vii

Preface
xi
1
Introduction                                                                  1
2 Distribution: Mesozoic Mammals In Space and Time              19
3 Origin of Mammals                                             109
4 The Earliest-Known Stem
Mammals                               161
5 Docodontans                                           187
6 Australosphenidans and Shuotherium                            202
7 Eutriconodontans                                              216
8 Allotherians                                                  249
9 "Symmetrodontans"                                             343
10 "Eupantotherians" (Stem Cladotherians)                       371
11 "Tribotherians" (Stem Boreosphenidans)                       408
12 Metatherians                                         425
13 Eutherians                                                   463
14 Gondwanatherians                                             517
15 Interrelationships of Mesozoic Mammals                       520

Appendix                                                        539
References                                                       557
Additional References                                           607
Credits                                                 609
Index                                                           611

HOW TO ORDER

Columbia University Press
136 South Broadway
Irvington, NY 10533-2599

ISBN 0-231-11918-6 Hardcover $195.00

Columbia University Press Website:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/index.html
Direct link to online catalog entry:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/catalog/data/023111/0231119186.HTM

Posted Date: 11/12/04