Mesozoic Vertebrate Life

by Tanke, Darren H.; Carpenter, Kenneth; Skrepnick, Michael William

• ISBN13: 9780253339072
• ISBN10: 0253339073
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

This collective volume presents the current knowledge about the Mesozoic reptiles of Patagonia. This is the first book to ever to examine the Mesozoic era in the English language, and the first in any language to treat it in an entire decade. The contributors cover a great amount of material, describing the phylogenetic relationships among the reptiles, their diversity, evolution, and paleobiology. The Patagonian region had a distinctive fauna, which has become much better known over the last 40 years, sometimes due to amazing discoveries. With copious illustrations, this book provides more than a glimpse of a fascinating, ancient past.!!!NOTES!!!: We need fifty more words. What is special about this book that makes it fun to read? Also please give more information on why the Mesozoic era is special and different from all others. What makes that fauna so unique?

Author Biography

DARREN TANKE works for the Dinosaur Research Program at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta.

KENNETH CARPENTER is an authority on dinosaurs and Mesozoic marine reptiles and is affiliated with the Denver Museum of Natural History. He is author of Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs (Indiana) and has edited important collections of papers dealing with dinosaurs, including Dinosaur Systematics: Approaches and Perspectives (with Philip J. Currie) and The Armored Dinosaurs (forthcoming).

Table of Contents

Contributors
Foreword: Introduction to Philip Currie
Acknowledgments
Theropods
New Theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia	p. 3
On the Type and Referred Material of Laelaps trihedrodon Cope 1877 (Dinosauria: Theropoda)	p. 10
Endocranial Anatomy of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) and Its Implications for Theropod Brain Evolution	p. 19
Lower Jaw of Gallimimus bullatus	p. 34
Late Cretaceous Oviraptorosaur (Theropoda) Dinosaurs from Montana	p. 42
Tooth-Marked Small Theropod Bone: An Extremely Rare Trace	p. 58
The Phylogeny and Taxonomy of the Tyrannosauridae	p. 64
A Kerf-and-Drill Model of Tyrannosaur Tooth Serrations	p. 84
Forelimb Osteology and Biomechanics of Tyrannosaurus rex	p. 90
Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight	p. 117
Sauropods
New Titanosauriform (Sauropoda) from the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Utah	p. 139
Gastroliths from the Lower Cretaceous Sauropod Cedarosaurus weiskopfae	p. 166
Ornithischians
New Ornithopod from the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Eastern Utah	p. 183
A Baby Ornithopod from the Morrison Formation of Garden Park, Colorado	p. 197
Evidence of Hatchling- and Nestling-Size Hadrosaurs (Reptilia: Ornithischia) from Dinosaur Provincial Park (Dinosaur Park Formation: Campanian), Alberta	p. 206
Taphonomy and Paleoenvironment of a Hadrosaur (Dinosauria) from the Matanuska Formation (Turonian) in South-Central Alaska	p. 219
Primitive Armored Dinosaur from the Lufeng Basin, China	p. 237
A Montanoceratops cerorhynchus (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) Braincase from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta	p. 243
Speculations on the Socioecology of Ceratopsid Dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Neoceratopsia)	p. 263
Dinosaurian Faunas
Dinosaurs of Alberta (exclusive of Aves)	p. 279
Two Medicine Formation, Montana: Geology and Fauna	p. 298
Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Provinciality	p. 310
Paleopathologies
Theropod Stress Fractures and Tendon Avulsions as a Clue to Activity	p. 331
Theropod Paleopathology: A Literature Survey	p. 337
Dinosaurian Humeral Periostitis: A Case of a Juxtacortical Lesion in the Fossil Record	p. 364
Pathological Amniote Eggshell - Fossil and Modern	p. 378
Ichnology
The Impact of Sedimentology on Vertebrate Track Studies	p. 395
Acrocanthosaurus and the Maker of Comanchean Large-Theropod Footprints	p. 408
Trackways of Large Quadrupedal Ornithopods from the Cretaceous: A Review	p. 428
First Reports of Bird and Ornithopod Tracks from the Lakota Formation (Early Cretaceous), Black Hills, South Dakota	p. 443
New Ichnotaxa of Bird and Mammal Footprints from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Gates Formation of Alberta	p. 453
Dinosaurs and Human History
Bones of Contention: Charles H. Sternberg's Lost Dinosaurs	p. 481
Dinosaurs in Fiction	p. 504
Publications of Philip John Currie	p. 531
Index	p. 543
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