Overview
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.
Synopsis
This pathbreaking volume provides further evidence that we are in the midst of a new golden age of dinosaur paleontology. It presents important new research on the vertebrate life of the Mesozoic as reported by 45 of the leading workers in the field. Organized into sections on theropods, sauropods, ornithischians, dinosaurian fauna, paleopathologies, and ichnology, these new papers represent a broad cross-section of current research. Studies of Charles Sternberg and dinosaurs in fiction conclude the book.
Among the interesting findings presented in Mesozoic Vertebrate Life are a new theropod from Patagonia, a new sauropod and a new ornithodpod from Utah, and new studies of the phylogeny and taxonomy of the Tyrannosauridae. There are new papers on the feathered dinosaurs from China and the origins of flight, with striking color photographs; current speculations on the socioecology of Ceratopsid dinosaurs; and new studies of what can be inferred about dinosaur behavior from examining bone pathologies and trackways. These 33 papers represent cutting-edge research on dinosaurs and other vertebrates from an important period in the life of the past.
Contributors are William L. Abler, M. K. Brett-Surman, Kathleen Brill, Kenneth Carpenter, Robert L. Carroll, Dan Chure, Rodolfo A. Coria, Clive Coy, Tony DiCroce, James O. Farlow, Tracy Ford, Karl F. Hirsch, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr., A. R. Jacobsen, Paul Janke, Hans C. E. Larsson, Thomas M. Lehman, Martin G. Lockley, Richard T. McCrea, Lorrie McWhinney, Peter J. Makovicky, Kim Manley, Kevin C. May, Susanne Meyer, R. E. Molnar, G. C. Nadon, Kevin Padian, Anne D. Pasch, Ji Qang, Bruce Rothschild, Anthony P. Russell, Michael J. Ryan, Scott D. Sampson, Frank Sanders, William A. S. Sarjeant, Ji Shu-an, Matt Smith, David A. E. Spalding, Darren H. Tanke, Leon Theisen, Virginia Tidwell, David Trexler, David J. Varricchio, Joanna L. Wright, and Dong Zhiming.
Adding to the appeal of the book is a portfolio of dinosaur paintings and sculptures by some of the finest paleoartists in the world, including John Bindon, Brian Cooley, Katy Hargrove, Douglas Henderson, Daniel A. LoRusso, Gregory S. Paul, Luis Rey, John Sibbick, Michael W. Skrepnick, Jan Sovak, and Michael Trcic.
About the Authors:
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) andThe Armored Dinosaurs (forthcoming).