Research Catalog

How vertebrates left the water

Title: How vertebrates left the water [electronic resource] / Michel Laurin.
Author: Laurin, Michel.
Publication: Berkeley : University of California Press, c2010.

Available Online

Details

Description

1 online resource (xv, 199 p.) : ill., maps.

Summary

This illustrated book describes how some finned vertebrates acquired limbs, giving rise to more than 25,000 extant terrapod species. Michel Laurin uses paleontological, geological, physiological, and comparative anatomical data to describe this monumental event. Along with discussing the evolutionary pressures that may have led vertebrates onto dry land, the author also shows how extant vertebrates yield clues about the conquest of land and how scientists uncover evolutionary history.--[book cover]

Uniform Title

Syst́ématique, paléontologie et biologie évolutive moderne. English (Online)

Alternative Title

Syst́ématique, paléontologie et biologie évolutive moderne.

Subject

Note

Translation of: Syst́ématique, paléontologie et biologie évolutive moderne : l'exemple de la sortie des eaux chez les vertébrés. 2008.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-185) and index.

Access (note)

Access restricted to authorized users.

Contents

How can we reconstruct evolutionary history? Classification and biological nomenclature -- Modern phylogenetics -- Homology and analogy : lungs, swim bladders, and gills -- Geological time scale and the chronology of a few key events -- A few relevant paleontological localities -- Conquest of land : data from extant vertebrates. Are animals still conquering the land today? -- The coelacanth, a living fossil? -- Dipnoans : our closest extant finned cousins -- Reproduction among tetrapods : amphibians are not all amphibious! -- Paleontological context. The conquest of land in various taxa -- The history of our ideas about the conquest of land by vertebrates -- The lateral-line organ and the lifestyle of Paleozoic stegocephalians -- Vertebrate limb evolution. The vertebrate skeleton -- Hox genes and the origin of digits -- Sarcopterygian fins and the origin of digits -- Fragmentary fossils, phylogeny, and the first digits -- The gills of Acanthostega and the original function of the tetrapod limb -- Bone microanatomy and lifestyle -- Diversity of Paleozoic stegocephalians. Temnospondyls -- Embolomeres -- Seymouriamorphs -- Amphibians -- Diadectomorphs -- Amniotes -- Stegocephalian phylogeny -- Adaptations to life on land. Limbs and girdles -- Vertebral centrum and axial skeleton -- Breathing -- The skin and water exchange -- Sensory organs -- Synthesis and conclusion. Conquest of land and the first returns to the aquatic environment -- Why come onto land? -- Modern paleontology and the "Indiana Jones" stereotype.

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