WordNet
n. the paleontology of vertebrates
Wikipedia
Vertebrate paleontology is a large subfield to paleontology seeking to discover the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord, through the study of their fossilized remains. It also tries to connect, by using the evolutionary timeline, the animals of the past and their modern-day relatives.
The fossil record shows aspects of the meandering evolutionary path from early aquatic vertebrates to mammals, with a host of transitional fossils, though there are still large blank areas. The earliest known fossil vertebrates were heavily armored fish discovered in rocks from the Ordovician Period about 500 to 430 Ma ( megaannum, million years ago). The Devonian Period (395 to 345 Ma) brought in the changes that allowed primitive air-breathing fish to remain on land as long as they wished, thus becoming the first terrestrial vertebrates, the amphibians.
Amphibians developed forms of reproduction and locomotion and a metabolism better suited for life exclusively on land, becoming more reptilian. Full-fledged reptiles appeared in the Carboniferous Period (345 to 280 Ma).
The reptilian changes and adaptations to diet and geography are chronicled in the fossil record of the varying forms of therapsida. True mammals showed up in the Triassic Period (225 to 190 Ma) around the same time as the dinosaurs, which also sprouted from the reptilian line.
Birds first diverged from dinosaurs between 100 Ma and 60 Ma.
Vertebrate Paleontology is an advanced textbook on vertebrate paleontology by Alfred Sherwood Romer, published by the University of Chicago Press. It went through three editions (1933, 1945, 1966) and for many years constituted a very authoritative work and the definitive coverage of the subject. A condensed version centering on comparative anatomy, coauthored by T.S. Parson came in 1977, remaining in print until 1985. The 1987 book Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution by Robert L. Carroll is largely based on Romer's book.
The book provides a very detailed and comprehensive technical account of every main group of living and fossil vertebrates, though the mammal-like reptiles are covered in particular, these being Romer's main interest. At the rear of the book is a classification list which includes every genus known at the time of publication, along with locality and stratigraphic range.
Usage examples of "vertebrate paleontology".
Shortly after lunch, a junior preparator in the vertebrate paleontology department collapsed at her laboratory table.
In Germany, there was the father of German vertebrate paleontology, Hermann von Meyer, who first identified the spectacular half-reptile, half-bird “.
The techniques and tools of vertebrate paleontology today haven’.
Curators of Vertebrate Paleontology hoard them like jewels, now and then locking the museum doors so that they can gloat and titter over their hoard like mad, fiendish misers.