Origin and Early Evolution of the Metazoa / Edition 1

by Jere H. Lipps, Philip W. Signor

Overview

Several years ago, we realized that the most prominent ideas that had been ex­ pressed about the origin and early evolution of the Metazoa seemed to have been developed chiefly by zoologists using evidence from modern species without reference to the fossil record. Paleontologists had, in fact, put forth their own ideas but the zoological and the paleontological evidence were about the problem, seldom considered together, especially by zoologists. We believed that the paleon­ tological documentation of the first Metazoa was too scattered, too obscure to Western readers, and much of it too recent to have been readily available to our colleagues in zoology. Whether or not that was entirely true, we thought that a single volume reviewing the fossil record of the earliest Metazoa would be useful to many in both paleontology and zoology, especially since so much new information has been developed in the last few years. Some of this information has been summarized in general articles recently, but an overview of most of the field does not exist. We therefore organized this book in five parts so that the evidence could be placed in perspective and summarized and inferences made from it. Part I intro­ duces the previous hypotheses that have been proposed for the origin and early radiation of Metazoa. Part II consists of two summary chapters that set the sedi­ mentological, geochemical, and biological background to the known radiations of Metazoa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306440670
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	08/31/1992
Series:	Topics in Geobiology , #10
Edition description:	1992
Pages:	570
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.05(d)

Table of Contents

I • Introduction.- 1 • Origin and Early Radiation of the Metazoa.- II • The Late Proterozoic.- 2 • Faunas and Facies—Fact and Artifact: Paleoenvironmental Controls on the Distribution of Early Cambrian Faunas.- 3 • Biological and Biogeochemical Preludes to the Ediacaran Radiation.- III • Vendian Faunas of the World.- 4 • Vendian Faunas and the Early Evolution of Metazoa.- 5 • Functional and Ecological Aspects of Ediacaran Assemblages.- 6 • The Record of Trace Fossils across the Proterozoic—Cambrian Boundary.- IV • Radiations of the Cambrian Faunas.- 7 • The Lower Cambrian Fossil Record of the Soviet Union.- 8 • Lower Cambrian of Southeastern Newfoundland: Epeirogeny and Lazarus Faunas, Lithofacies—Biofacies Linkages, and the Myth of a Global Chronostratigraphy.- 9 • The Lower Cambrian Fossil Record of China.- 10 • The Early Cambrian Radiation of Arthropods.- 11 • Radiation of Echinodermata.- 12 • The Cambrian Radiation of Brachiopods.- 13 • Diversification of Archaeocyatha.- V • Overview of the Proterozoic/Cambrian Radiations.- 14 • Early Radiation of Biomineralizing Phyla.- 15 • Paleoceanography and Changes in the Biological Cycling of Phosphorus across the Precambrian—Cambrian Boundary.- 16 • The Macroevolution of Phyla.

Editorial Reviews

Providing an international perspective on the subject (including a summary of Russian and Chinese literature in English), contributions discuss previously proposed and new hypotheses for the origin and early radiation of Metazoa; give a sedimentological, geochemical, and biological description of the earth just prior to the appearance of the first animal fossils; review new knowledge on the earliest known metazoan fossils; and discuss the early evolution of Metazoa from a geographical and systematic perspective. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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