Vertebrate Palaeontology (Benton)

From Palaeos

Vertebrate Paleontology is a basic textbook on vertebrate paleontology by Michael J. Benton, published by Blackwell's. It is written in an easy and readable style, and has so far appeared in three editions (1990, 1997, 2004). It constitutes a widely used overall coverage of the subject, designed for paleontology graduate courses in biology and geology as well as for the interested layperson.

The book gives an overall account of every major group of living and fossil vertebrate. At the rear of the book is a phylogenetic classification which combines both the Linnaean hierarchy and the cladistic arrangement, and is used as a guideline for the Wikipedia pages on living and extinct vertebate taxa. However, some of Benton's classification differs from that in the Tree of Life Web Project, especially as regards the relationship of early amphibian groups (Batrachomorpha and Reptiliomorpha)

Bibliography

• Benton, M. J. (2004), Vertebrate Paleontology, 3rd ed. Blackwell Science Ltd

Credits

Wikipedia MAK060513; copied to Palaeos org MAK061018