World Atlas of Dinosaurs Pdf, Epub, Ebook

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

World Atlas of Dinosaurs Pdf, Epub, Ebook WORLD ATLAS OF DINOSAURS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Rachel Firth | 144 pages | 27 Jun 2008 | Usborne Publishing Ltd | 9780746098233 | English | London, United Kingdom World Atlas of Dinosaurs PDF Book As a stand alone resource it is as good as most that targets the elementary school dinosaur enthusiast. Be wary of saying never, but the Usborne books publishers have created a series of internet-linked books, and naturally the best is probably The Usborne Internet-Linked World Atlas of Dinosaurs. Some theories have been put forward to try and explain why a large number of the living species went extinct; however, most scientists are unable to reach a consensus on the cause. This listing does NOT qualify for the combined shipping discount. You'll find loads of them sitting in the House of User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. What, another dinosaur book? Caldecott Medal Books. On the contrary, those who lived in water ate crabs and other shellfish, squid, and other marine animals. Add to Watchlist Add to wish list. Scientists suggest that the crests were used for body heat regulation, as rudders during flight, or for sexual selection. No returns , but backed by eBay Money back guarantee. The feeding habits of pterodactyls varied with their habitat. Ships to:. Harry Seeley further divided dinosaurs based on their hip structures into orders Saurischia and Ornithischia in and I'm still in shock. Today's Top Stories. I see an image, diet, period, time span, and good grief, even more details. While exploring this book I found that many of the resources come from various Natural History Museums. In , Sir Richard Owen became the first person to classify dinosaurs when he classified Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus, and Megalosaurus into the suborder Saurian Reptiles and gave them the name Dinosauria. However, a type of pterodactyl known as the Quetzalcoatlus northropi was toothless. Buy It Now. Also included is a section with downloadable images for the vicious variraptor with directions for saving the picture. Another possible theory suggested that avian dinosaurs were able to survive due to their diet. Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing. World Atlas. World Atlas of Dinosaurs Writer PM refuses to rule out lockdown lasting to SUMMER amid claims he is willing to keep curbs longer to make sure it's the last national squeeze - despite UK cases slumping for 12th day in a row and rise in deaths easing. Good : A book that has been read but is in good condition. About this product. There are also a few issues that have pages that are torn as noted below. About this item. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano. The reptiles were also known as pterosaurs. Import charges. For concerned parents, the Websites have undergone careful review for content. Bald Eagle Facts. Physically, the pterodactyls were quite different from dinosaurs. Ships to:. Originally published on Epinions at www. Banned Books. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Learn more. The nature of dinosaur's bones distinguished avian and non-avian dinosaurs as avian dinosaurs had hollow bones while non-avian dinosaurs had dense bones. Add to cart. What roamed the Earth where you live millions of years ago? It was believed that it may have been connected to its tail. Dinosaurs World Books. Fight the Power : Take a look at who's transforming the way we think about energy. Trust me when I say, this one will make all of the other children's dinosaur books seem insignificant comparison. Some of them were fleshly and had no bones underneath them whereas other pterodactyls had big, bony crests. They were not birds, rather they were flying reptiles. Shipping, Returns and Payments Details See details. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting,but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Ratings and Reviews Write a review. Atlas Hardcovers in English. Still want more information? But it does offer various factoids for whatever time period you choose. The content provides a never-ending journey into the world of dinosaurs. The Paleobiology Database encompasses all known dinosaur species, with more than 2, types represented across every continent on Earth. If you aren't looking for any specific creature, just click around randomly and see what pops up. Initially, paleontologists did not have a specific description for how dinosaurs looked which caused them to confuse pterodactyls for dinosaurs at one point in time. In , an Italian scientist called Cosimo Collini discovered the first pterosaur by the name Pterodactylus. One of those could be the Earth 50 million years ago during the early Tertiary period, after asteroids hit the planet and finished off the dinosaurs. Better World Books. World Atlas of Dinosaurs Reviews Item description Details Seller's description. For additional information, see the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions - opens in a new window or tab This amount includes applicable customs duties, taxes, brokerage and other fees. Excellent book for kids This is a fantastic book full of information about popular as well as little known dinosaurs. It is easy to read and has pictures on every page. The dominance of the dinosaurs over the planet started after the occurrence of the Triassic—Jurassic extinction event. This superb atlas takes a fresh and exciting look at the amazing world of dinosaurs. See photos and details below. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Safety guidelines are provided for you and your children to read. For additional information, see the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions - opens in a new window or tab. The second chapter visits the various continents as we search for dinosaurs and the final chapter, Dinosaur Fact File, is full of facts, a quiz, glossary, and more timeline. Item Ending. Internet Archive Books. Most Cerapoda members had enameled teeth. The lowest-priced item in unused and unworn condition with absolutely no signs of wear. My 5 year old grand-daughter loves this book. Some engineers have created an interactive map to navigate the overwhelming amount of data created by the Paleobiology Database , a massive collection of information about fossils and related research. These heads may have probably been adapted to defense and aggression. These dinosaurs had flat heads and very small or no neck. The first chapter explores the dinosaur world, including the Mesozoic era's Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous worlds. Some sauropodomorphs grew up to feet and weighed approximately US short tons. Shipping, Returns and Payments Details See details. These dinosaurs lived in the early Jurassic period and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Share this article Share. No missing pages. Scanned in China. See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. This is a fantastic book full of information about popular as well as little known dinosaurs. Import charges. If any sites become unavailable, we will, if possible replace them with suitable alternatives. Item Number. Despite the differing theories on the origins of the event, scientists agree on the impact which was the destruction of all non-avian dinosaurs which were thought to be around species. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Type in any address and time and see for yourself if it would have been worth visiting in our planet's long history. Dinosaurs belonging to the suborder of Sauropodomorpha were the largest animals to ever walk on earth. Bald Eagle Facts. Trust me when I say, this one will make all of the other children's dinosaur books seem insignificant comparison. World Atlas of Dinosaurs Read Online Back to home page Return to top. No returns , but backed by eBay Money back guarantee. This is a fantastic book full of information about popular as well as little known dinosaurs. Dr Matthew Carrano, Curator of Dinosauria at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, first began contributing to the database in — and, the work continues to grow today. Trust me when I say, this one will make all of the other children's dinosaur books seem insignificant comparison. Depending on the clade, Ornithopods grew to a maximum length of between 9. No missing pages. You may also like. Exploring the world of dinosaurs was never more fun. The lowest-priced item in unused and unworn condition with absolutely no signs of wear. Read more. Now, once the link to this comes up, you are offered an opportunity to type in the page number that you are searching from. See what Earth looked like from space when it was ruled by dinosaurs Take a gander at what the Earth looked like at different points in history with this interactive 3D globe. More science A new study discovers turning off a pleading robot isn't easy Scientists discover the oldest color in the world Bees know nothing, and that's a good thing, new study says. Sell one like this. View all. To search the map, you can click on different geologic eras, the strata that the organism was found in, or search the specific taxonomy you're looking for. This is truly a compendium of dinosaur information that will delight any dino fan, even the six-year old I met the other day who taught himself to read at three just to learn more about dinosaurs. Ankylosaurids had a large tail club made up of distended vertebrae fused together and were armored head to tail, including on minor body features like eyelids. The crests were in different forms. It is a heavy book in hard-bound format. The links are active and selecting the Telmatosaurus tab gives additional information.
Recommended publications
  • Chapter 10, the Mistaken Extinction, by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, New York, W
    Chapter 10, The Mistaken Extinction, by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, New York, W. H. Freeman, 1998. CHAPTER 10 Dinosaurs Challenge Evolution Enter Sir Richard Owen More than 150 years ago, the great British naturalist Richard Owen (fig. 10.01) ignited the controversy that Deinonychus would eventually inflame. The word "dinosaur" was first uttered by Owen in a lecture delivered at Plymouth, England in July of 1841. He had coined the name in a report on giant fossil reptiles that were discovered in England earlier in the century. The root, Deinos, is usually translated as "terrible" but in his report, published in 1842, Owen chose the words "fearfully great"1. To Owen, dinosaurs were the fearfully great saurian reptiles, known only from fossil skeletons of huge extinct animals, unlike anything alive today. Fig. 10.01 Richard Owen as, A) a young man at about the time he named Dinosauria, B) in middle age, near the time he described Archaeopteryx, and C) in old age. Dinosaur bones were discovered long before Owen first spoke their name, but no one understood what they represented. The first scientific report on a dinosaur bone belonging was printed in 1677 by Rev. Robert Plot in his work, The Natural History of Oxfordshire. This broken end of a thigh bone, came to Plot's attention during his research. It was nearly 60 cm in circumference--greater than the same bone in an elephant (fig.10.02). We now suspect that it belonged to Megalosaurus bucklandii, a carnivorous dinosaur now known from Oxfordshire. But Plot concluded that it "must have been a real Bone, now petrified" and that it resembled "exactly the figure of the 1 Chapter 10, The Mistaken Extinction, by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, New York, W.
    [Show full text]
  • New Perspectives on Pterosaur Palaeobiology
    Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 24, 2021 New perspectives on pterosaur palaeobiology DAVID W. E. HONE1*, MARK P. WITTON2 & DAVID M. MARTILL2 1Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E14NS, UK 2School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight and occupied the skies of the Mesozoic for 160 million years. They occurred on every continent, evolved their incredible pro- portions and anatomy into well over 100 species, and included the largest flying animals of all time among their ranks. Pterosaurs are undergoing a long-running scientific renaissance that has seen elevated interest from a new generation of palaeontologists, contributions from scientists working all over the world and major advances in our understanding of their palaeobiology. They have espe- cially benefited from the application of new investigative techniques applied to historical speci- mens and the discovery of new material, including detailed insights into their fragile skeletons and their soft tissue anatomy. Many aspects of pterosaur science remain controversial, mainly due to the investigative challenges presented by their fragmentary, fragile fossils and notoriously patchy fossil record. With perseverance, these controversies are being resolved and our understand- ing of flying reptiles is increasing. This volume brings together a diverse set of papers on numerous aspects of the biology of these fascinating reptiles, including discussions of pterosaur ecology, flight, ontogeny, bony and soft tissue anatomy, distribution and evolution, as well as revisions of their taxonomy and relationships.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylogeny and Avian Evolution Phylogeny and Evolution of the Aves
    Phylogeny and Avian Evolution Phylogeny and Evolution of the Aves I. Background Scientists have speculated about evolution of birds ever since Darwin. Difficult to find relatives using only modern animals After publi cati on of “O rigi i in of S peci es” (~1860) some used birds as a counter-argument since th ere were no k nown t ransiti onal f orms at the time! • turtles have modified necks and toothless beaks • bats fly and are warm blooded With fossil discovery other potential relationships! • Birds as distinct order of reptiles Many non-reptilian characteristics (e.g. endothermy, feathers) but really reptilian in structure! If birds only known from fossil record then simply be a distinct order of reptiles. II. Reptile Evolutionary History A. “Stem reptiles” - Cotylosauria Must begin in the late Paleozoic ClCotylosauri a – “il”“stem reptiles” Radiation of reptiles from Cotylosauria can be organized on the basis of temporal fenestrae (openings in back of skull for muscle attachment). Subsequent reptilian lineages developed more powerful jaws. B. Anapsid Cotylosauria and Chelonia have anapsid pattern C. Syypnapsid – single fenestra Includes order Therapsida which gave rise to mammalia D. Diapsida – both supppratemporal and infratemporal fenestrae PttPattern foun did in exti titnct arch osaurs, survi iiving archosaurs and also in primitive lepidosaur – ShSpheno don. All remaining living reptiles and the lineage leading to Aves are classified as Diapsida Handout Mammalia Extinct Groups Cynodontia Therapsida Pelycosaurs Lepidosauromorpha Ichthyosauria Protorothyrididae Synapsida Anapsida Archosauromorpha Euryapsida Mesosaurs Amphibia Sauria Diapsida Eureptilia Sauropsida Amniota Tetrapoda III. Relationshippp to Reptiles Most groups present during Mesozoic considere d ancestors to bird s.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Find a Dinosaur, and the Role of Synonymy in Biodiversity Studies
    Paleobiology, 34(4), 2008, pp. 516–533 How to find a dinosaur, and the role of synonymy in biodiversity studies Michael J. Benton Abstract.—Taxon discovery underlies many studies in evolutionary biology, including biodiversity and conservation biology. Synonymy has been recognized as an issue, and as many as 30–60% of named species later turn out to be invalid as a result of synonymy or other errors in taxonomic practice. This error level cannot be ignored, because users of taxon lists do not know whether their data sets are clean or riddled with erroneous taxa. A year-by-year study of a large clade, Dinosauria, comprising over 1000 taxa, reveals how systematists have worked. The group has been subject to heavy review and revision over the decades, and the error rate is about 40% at generic level and 50% at species level. The naming of new species and genera of dinosaurs is proportional to the number of people at work in the field. But the number of valid new dinosaurian taxa depends mainly on the discovery of new territory, particularly new sedimentary basins, as well as the number of paleontologists. Error rates are highest (Ͼ50%) for dinosaurs from Europe; less well studied con- tinents show lower totals of taxa, exponential discovery curves, and lower synonymy rates. The most prolific author of new dinosaur names was Othniel Marsh, who named 80 species, closely followed by Friedrich von Huene (71) and Edward Cope (64), but the ‘‘success rate’’ (proportion of dinosaurs named that are still regarded as valid) was low (0.14–0.29) for these earlier authors, and it appears to improve through time, partly a reflection of reduction in revision time, but mainly because modern workers base their new taxa on more complete specimens.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Birmingham Work on the Victorian Dinosaur
    University of Birmingham Work on the Victorian Dinosaur Tattersdill, William DOI: 10.1111/lic3.12394 License: Other (please specify with Rights Statement) Document Version Peer reviewed version Citation for published version (Harvard): Tattersdill, W 2017, 'Work on the Victorian Dinosaur: Histories and Prehistories of Nineteenth-Century Palaeontology', Literature Compass, vol. 14, no. 6, e12394. https://doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12394 Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal Publisher Rights Statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Tattersdill W. Work on the Victorian dinosaur: Histories and prehistories of 19th- century palaeontology. Literature Compass. 2017;14, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12394. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. The express permission of the copyright holder must be obtained for any use of this material other than for purposes permitted by law. •Users may freely distribute the URL that is used to identify this publication. •Users may download and/or print one copy of the publication from the University of Birmingham research portal for the purpose of private study or non-commercial research. •User may use extracts from the document in line with the concept of ‘fair dealing’ under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (?) •Users may not further distribute the material nor use it for the purposes of commercial gain.
    [Show full text]
  • Article Naming Dinosaur Species: the Performance
    Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(5):1478–1485, September 2010 © 2010 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology ARTICLE NAMING DINOSAUR SPECIES: THE PERFORMANCE OF PROLIFIC AUTHORS MICHAEL J. BENTON Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, U.K., [email protected] ABSTRACT—Many current debates about biodiversity and large-scale evolution have identified the need for comprehen- sive species inventories. Such species lists may be incomplete because more collecting is needed, or because of errors by systematists. Empirical studies show that error rates are high, as much as 30–50% for many living and fossil groups. A clear requirement is skilled systematists, and more of them; but who does the best work? An empirical investigation of the 321 authors who named all 1400 species of dinosaurs since 1824 shows that prolific authors do worse than authors who name only a few dinosaurs, and the key difference is between the 147 authors who named only one species, and the 174 who named two or more. The most prolific author was Othniel Marsh, who named 98 species of dinosaurs (including 80 non-avian dinosaurs and 18 Mesozoic birds), but only 35 (36%) of his names are currently regarded as valid. The poor showing by prolific authors is not a result of their working at different times over the last two centuries, nor on dinosaurs of a particular age, body size, or quality class, nor that their work has been over-revised, but most likely because many prolific authors of dinosaur species names have been too interested in splitting species.
    [Show full text]
  • Early and “Middle” Cretaceous Iguanodonts in Time and Space
    ISSN (print): 1698-6180. ISSN (online): 1886-7995 www.ucm.es/info/estratig/journal.htm Journal of Iberian Geology 36 (2) 2010: 145-164 doi:10.5209/rev_JIGE.2010.v36.n2.3 Early and “Middle” Cretaceous Iguanodonts in Time and Space Iguanodontes del Cretácico temprano y “medio” en el tiempo y en el espacio K. Carpenter1*, Y. Ishida,2 1USU-CEU Prehistoric Museum, 155 East Main Street, Price, UT 84501, USA 2Department of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 06-0810, Japan *[email protected] Received: 28/11/09 / Accepted: 30/06/10 Abstract Recent discoveries of diverse iguanodonts throughout the Cedar Mountain Formation (Utah, USA) have led us to assess the global diversity of Early Cretaceous iguanodonts. The record in England is more diverse than previously recognized due to Iguanodon being a wastebasket genus throughout the Twentieth Century. Several new taxa, previously recognized as generically distinct by Harry Grovier Seeley, are named. The spatial and temporal distributions of iguanodonts are plotted on global maps as a key to un- derstanding the origin of the Cedar Mountain Formation iguanodonts. Keywords: Early Cretaceous, Iguanodonts, Dinosauria Resumen Los recientes descubrimientos de diversos iguanodontes en la Formación Cedar Mountain (Utah, EE.UU.) nos han llevado a valo- rar la diversidad global de los iguanodontes del Cretácico temprano. El registro en Inglaterra es más diverso de lo que previamente se ha reconocido, debido a que Iguanodon ha sido tratado como un género “cajón de sastre” a lo largo de todo el siglo XX. Varios de los nuevos taxones, previamente reconocidos como genéricamente distintos por Harry Seeley Grovier, se denominan.
    [Show full text]
  • Smith Woodward and Human Evolution
    Arthur Smith Woodward and his involvement in the study of Human Evolution Christopher Dean* Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT. Isabelle De Groote Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF. [email protected] Chris Stringer Human Origins Research Group, Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD. [email protected] * Corresponding Author (e-mail: [email protected]) 7964 words (including abstract of 173 words) 6 Figures Abbreviated title; Arthur Smith Woodward and Human Evolution Keywords: Piltdown Man. Arthur Smith Woodward. Charles Dawson Abstract 1 In 1884, Arthur Smith Woodward first met Charles Dawson, a solicitor and industrious amateur collector, antiquarian, geologist, archaeologist and palaeontologist. This began a long association and friendship centred on their mutual interest in palaeontology and human evolution. Dawson devised a complicated plot focused around the ancient river gravel deposits at Barkham Manor near the village of Piltdown, Sussex. In these gravels he planted stone tools and fossil mammal remains together with the lower jaw of an ape and numerous modern human cranial bones to deceive the scientific establishment into believing an early human ancestor had been found in his own back yard. Cleverly devised to provide anatomists and archaeologists with evidence for concepts that they wanted to believe were true, Dawson fuelled numerous contentious debates among scientists that quickly attracted international attention. Nothing could be more unfortunate than such a respectable scientist as Arthur Smith Woodward was taken in by the events of 1912, and then subsequently swept along by them well into his retirement right up to the time of his death in 1944.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 11- Dinosaurs and the Hierarchy of Life
    Chapter 11, The Mistaken Extinction, by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, New York, W. H. Freeman, 1998. Chapter 11 Dinosaurs and the Hierarchy of Life Are birds related to dinosaurs or not? Deinonychus carried the question full circle. First Huxley and then Ostrom argued that small dinosaurs are closely related to birds. And the same charges of homoplasy launched at Compsognathus in Huxley’s time were thrown at Deinonychus a century later. Are the resemblances of modern birds to extinct dinosaurs genealogical, or merely a coincidence - the result of convergent evolution? As we watched the debate between Ostrom and his critics unfold, each side asserted emphatically that it was correct. But they couldn’t both be right. Birds could have only one true set of relationships, one historic line of descent. The trick was to figure out how to test between the alternatives - how can we tell genealogical similarities from those that reflect homoplasy? To answer this question, we first need to come to grips with what a dinosaur is from a modern scientific view point. What features must an animal have to be a dinosaur? While this seems like a simple question, when we arrived at Berkeley we encountered an intense debate over how to answer questions like this, that eventually grew across departmental lines to involve many of the faculty and students studying evolutionary biology across campus. The debate commanded wide attention because there was a more fundamental issue at stake that involved reconstructing the past. How can we testably reconstruct the relationships among living and extinct organisms? Reconstructing Relationships: Mapping the Phylogeny of Life Evolutionary relationship, shared common ancestry, is what makes the various groups of living organisms distinctive and provides their biological identities today.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hypothesis of Saurischian Pneumaticity
    Geological Society, London, Special Publications Pneumaticity, the early years: Wealden Supergroup dinosaurs and the hypothesis of saurischian pneumaticity Darren Naish Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2010; v. 343; p. 229-236 doi:10.1144/SP343.13 Email alerting click here to receive free email alerts when new articles cite this service article Permission click here to seek permission to re-use all or part of this article request Subscribe click here to subscribe to Geological Society, London, Special Publications or the Lyell Collection Notes Downloaded by University of Portsmouth on 6 October 2010 © 2010 Geological Society of London Pneumaticity, the early years: Wealden Supergroup dinosaurs and the hypothesis of saurischian pneumaticity DARREN NAISH School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: Saurischian dinosaurs were pneumatic animals. The presence of invasive skeletal for- amina leading to large internal chambers within the skeleton strongly indicate the presence of avian-style skeletal pneumaticity of the skeleton in sauropodomorphs and non-avian theropods. While the hypothesis of skeletal pneumaticity has undergone a renaissance in recent years, it was initially promoted during the late 1800s after dinosaur fossils from the English Lower Cretac- eous Wealden Supergroup led Richard Owen and Harry Seeley to note the pneumatic, bird-like fea- tures of the vertebrae they described (Hermann von Meyer had also briefly alluded to skeletal pneumaticity in dinosaurs during the 1830s). In describing the theropod Becklespinax altispinax from the Hastings Beds Group (at the time referred to Megalosaurus), Richard Owen proposed that the laminae on the neural arch served to house ‘parts of the lungs’.
    [Show full text]
  • 1875Ch15 251..263
    Rapid #: -10711447 CROSS REF ID: 1569933 LENDER: ORE :: Main Library BORROWER: AZU :: Main Library TYPE: Article CC:CCL JOURNAL TITLE: Special publication - Geological Society of London USER JOURNAL TITLE: Geological Society special publication. ARTICLE TITLE: Thomas Henry Huxley and the reptile to bird transition ARTICLE AUTHOR: Briamn Switek VOLUME: 343 ISSUE: MONTH: YEAR: 2010 PAGES: 251-263 ISSN: 0305-8719 OCLC #: 13256989 Processed by RapidX: 6/13/2016 4:14:54 PM This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code) Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ at Oregon State University on June 13, 2016 Thomas Henry Huxley and the reptile to bird transition BRIAN SWITEK Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: The overwhelming evidence that birds evolved from maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs has rekindled an interest in the work of the Victorian anatomist Thomas Henry Huxley. Many popular and technical accounts credit Huxley with being the first to propose that birds evolved from dinosaurs, but this is a misinterpretation of Huxley’s work. During the 1860s Huxley was pre- occupied with identifying the basic ‘groundplans’ that united vertebrate forms. Birds and reptiles were two groups united by a shared body plan, with dinosaurs representing an intermediate form. Huxley did not begin to cast dinosaurs as transitional forms between birds and earlier reptiles until he read Ernst Haeckel’s Generelle Morphologie, at which time Huxley amassed ample anatomical evidence to illustrate how birds could have evolved from something dinosaur-like. Even then, however, Huxley did not say that birds had evolved from dinosaurs.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 14, the Mistaken Extinction, by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, New York, W
    Chapter 14, The Mistaken Extinction, by Lowell Dingus and Timothy Rowe, New York, W. H. Freeman, 1998. Chapter 14 The Road to Jurassic Park As graduate students, it seemed that Archaeopteryx was the sole source of information about early bird evolution. Our textbooks said little about other Mesozoic birds because there wasn’t much known about them. Avian history was a dark and murky for a span of 85 million years following Archaeopteryx, and not until the beginning of the Tertiary did the trail of fossils leading toward today’s birds resume. Suddenly, an explosion of new discoveries has illuminated the darkness. In the last fifteen years, new Mesozoic birds have been collected in many parts of the world. South America, Spain, and Asia, are producing a wealth of new Cretaceous fossils, including complete skeletons of mature birds, entire nests of eggs, embryonic skeletons, and as we saw in the last chapter there are new fossils preserving feathers. With every professional paleontological meeting, it seems, someone announces a new Mesozoic bird. Others bring pictures or specimens representing new species, but show them only to a privileged few. Thanks to the press, the new discoveries are feeding rumors and excitement on a global scale, as the growing league of bird-watchers race to add one of the rarest species to their “life list”--a Mesozoic bird. Through the blinding flash of new discoveries, the Mesozoic roots of bird evolution are dimly coming in to focus, and what was terra incognita in our student days is now crossed by a several major highways (fig.
    [Show full text]