Forerunners of mammals / Предшественники млекопитающих

This book brings together a group that has over many years researched various aspects of the evolution and paleobiology of the synapsids. Many of us have collaborated in our research endeavors, and all of us have at some stage shared information and had many hearty discussions about the biology of our distant relatives.
The book comprises eleven chapters. The first two chapters provide an introduction to the predecessors of mammals and their relatives, and an assessment of the ancient world in which they radiated. The opening chapter sets the scene, providing a guide of “who” the synapsids were and how they are related to one another. In this chapter, Tom Kemp provides an up to date assessment of the radiation of the synapsids from their earliest pelycosaur members, to the diverse nonmammalian therapsids, and later to the increasingly more mammal-like cynodonts. All this is done from a global perspective <...>