Dawn of the Dinosaurs

by Fraser, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9780253346520
• ISBN10: 0253346525
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

Science and art collaborate to recreate life on Earth more than 200 million years ago

Author Biography

Nicholas Fraser is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Director of Research and Collections at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. He lives in Martinsville, Virginia.

Douglas Henderson's work has appeared in several national and international touring exhibits as well as numerous magazines and books, including the children's books Living with Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Tree, Dinosaur Ghosts, and, more recently, Asteroid Impact. He lives in Whitehall, Montana.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
Part One The End of an Era: The Early Triassic	1	(74)
Setting the Stage: The Paleogeography and Climate of the Triassic World	3	(16)
A Brief Phylogeny of Triassic Fishes and Tetrapods	19	(44)
Starting Out in the Triassic	63	(12)
Part Two A Comfortable Middle Age: The Middle Triassic	75	(48)
A Hint of the Sea	77	(30)
No Midlife Crisis	107	(16)
Part Three A Time of Change: The Early Late Triassic	123	(72)
Marginal Creatures in a Marginal World	125	(18)
The Enigmas of Texas and the U.S. Southwest	143	(28)
Life in the Sand Dunes? The Elgin Reptiles	171	(14)
Life in the Deep South: The Late Triassic of Gondwana	185	(10)
Part Four The Birth of Modern Terrestrial Ecosystems	195	(62)
Pitfalls in Paleontology: The British Fissure Deposits	197	(18)
Time to Go Our Separate Ways: The Newark Supergroup	215	(28)
A Catastrophic Finale? The Mode and Tempo of Faunal Change	243	(14)
Appendix 1: Global Biostratigraphy and Age Correlation of Triassic Fossil Assemblages	257	(8)
Appendix 2: Bare Bones Sedimentology	265	(4)
Appendix 3: The Anatomy of a Tetrapod	269	(6)
Appendix 4: Names, Grades, and Clades	275	(4)
Glossary	279	(4)
References	283	(18)
Index	301