Evolution of the Amphibian Skull
Advances in Amphibian Research in the Former Soviet Union, Vol. 9

By Natalia S. Lebedkina
December 2004
Pensoft Publishers
ISBN: 9546422223
265 pages, Illustrated, 6 ½" x 9 ½"
$127.50 Hardcover

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The book is the outcome of some twenty years of work devoted to to the study of the amphibian skull development. The aims of ths work are: (i) to study the urodelan skull onthogeny; (ii) to determine correlative relationships between different cranial elements: (iii) to study the dynamic of establishment of relationships underlying specific structural patterns in the amphibian skull; (iv) to reconstruct the scenario of the phylogenetic establishment of cranial structural patterns in early tetrapods; and (v) based on the structure and development of correlative systems in the amphibian skull, to evaluate the phylogenetic affinities of recent amphibians. The book is intended for evolutionary biologists, specialists in amphibian biology and evolution, paleontologists and anyone interested in general biology.

Contents: Foreword * Introduction * Materials and methods * List of abbreviations * Chapter 1. The development of the urodelan skull * Embryonic period * Larval period * Chapter 2. Homology of the urodelan cranial bones * Homology of the urodelan parasphenoid * Homology of the urodelan "nasal" * Homology of the skull roofing bones in urodelans * Homology of the urodelan "squamosal" * Chapter 3. Evolution of the structural pattern of the amphibian bony skull * The establishment of the amphibian structural type of the dermal cranial base * The establishment of the amphibian structural type of the dermal cranial roof * The establishment of the amphibian structural type of the dermal cranial cheek region * Chapter 4. Summary * Monophyletic origin of recent amphibians * Tables * References

Biology

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