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Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters has a dual aim. Its overriding concern is the critical assessment of the extant and fossil morphological evidence against which phylogenetic hypotheses of marsupial phylogeny and taxa should be tested.
In addition to a reexamination of published character complexes and the proposed taxa, the author presents a detailed analysis of new fossils and osteological information previously not considered in phylogenetic studies of marsupials. All the higher metatherians are diagnosed and discussed in detail in the book, and a final chapter presents an analysis of the evolution and paleobiogeography of the marsupials.
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In addition to the primary aim of the book, which is to arrive at an interim, but most plausible phylogeny and biogeography of the marsupials, the book also discusses the methods of phylogeny reconstruction, and the special significance of the skeleton. It is argued that the use of osteological properties, considering all the available information which these contain, are critical for plausible phylogenetics.
The author argues that phylogenetic analysis of groups requires more than cladistics, but that any phylogeny must be based on noncircular analyses of character transformations to reveal their contingent and unique attributes. The temporal data and the morphology is provided by the fossils, and there must also be a proper consideration of ancestry, in addition to sistergroup relationships.
- This book is the only single-authored, comprehensive volume on the history of marsupials which deals with both the living and extinct groups, and will interest all paleontologists and biologists concerned with mammalian evolution.
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1
Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters
2011, Cambridge University Press
in English
0511882947 9780511882944
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2
Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters
2009, Cambridge University Press
in English
0511565577 9780511565571
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3
Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters
May 11, 2006, Cambridge University Press
Paperback
in English
- 1 edition
0521025923 9780521025928
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4
Evolutionary history of the marsupials and an analysis of osteological characters
1994, Cambridge University Press
in English
0521441692 9780521441698
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Book Details
First Sentence
"This book provides a historical-narrative explanation for a number of osteological features of all groups of marsupials, tests a number of group hypotheses against these, and based on the tests, offers what at present appears to be the most plausible phylogeny, an evolutionary history of these animals, albeit in many ways an inadaquate one."
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- Created April 29, 2008
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October 8, 2020 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
August 1, 2020 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |