Research Catalog

Title

The rise of amphibians : 365 million years of evolution / Robert Carroll.

Author

Carroll, Robert L. (Robert Lynn), 1938-

Publication

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, c2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 360 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. (some col.); 29 cm.

Summary

"For nearly 100 million years amphibians and their ancestors dominated the terrestrial and shallow water environments of the earth. Archaic animals with an amphibious way of life gave rise not only to modern frogs, salamanders, and caecilians but also to the ancestors of reptiles, birds, and mammals. In this landmark publication, one of the leading paleontologists of our time explores a pivotal moment in vertebrate evolution, the rise of amphibians." "Synthesizing findings from the rich and highly diverse fossil record of amphibians, Robert Carroll traces their origin back 365 million years, when particular species of fish traveled down an evolutionary pathway of fin modification that gave rise to legs. This period of dramatic radiation was followed by a cataclysmic extinction 250 million years ago. After a long gap, modern amphibian groups gradually emerged. Now the number of amphibian species and individuals throughout the tropical and temperate regions of the earth exceeds that of mammals." "The Rise of Amphibians is documented with more than two hundred illustrations of fossil amphibians and sixteen color plates depicting amphibians in their natural habitats throughout their long existence. The most comprehensive examination of amphibian evolution ever produced, The Rise of Amphibians is a resource for paleontologists, herpetologists, geologists, and evolutionary biologists."--Jacket.

Subject

• Amphibians > Evolution

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [337]-354) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

1. History of the earth and life -- 2. Advanced metazoans and the ancestry of vertebrates -- 3. The origin of amphibians -- 4. The radiation of carboniferous amphibians -- 5. Adaptation, radiation, and relationships -- 6. The zenith of amphibian diversity -- 7. The origin of amniotes: escape from the water -- 8. Stereospondyls: escape from the land -- 9. The enigma of modern amphibian origins -- 10. The ancestry of frogs -- 11. The ancestry of salamanders -- 12. Eocaecilia and the origin of caeclians -- 13. The success of modern amphibians -- 14. The future of amphibians.

ISBN

• 9780801891403 (hardcover : alk. paper)
• 080189140X (hardcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2008024792

OCLC

231947315

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library