Evolution is one of the fundamental underlying concepts of modern science. This powerful theory explains such phenomena as the history of life preserved in the fossil record; the genetic, molecular, and physical similarities and differences among organisms; and the geographic distribution of organisms today and in the past. Indeed, evolution forms the foundation of modern biology and paleontology and is well documented by evidence from a variety of scientific disciplines. <...>

Книга известного американского палеонтолога посвящена истории млекопитающих Южной Америки, эволюция которых на протяжении большей части кайнозоя протекала в условиях изоляции. В результате этой эволюции возникло множество совершенно своеобразных животных; многие из них вымерли, но некоторые (броненосцы, ламы, муравьеды) сохранились до наших дней. Южноамериканская фауна дала Чарлзу Дарвину важнейшие сведения, способствовавшие построению его теории происхождения видов.
Предназначена для зоологов, палеонтологов, биогеографов, а также биологов других специальностей.

Mammals, like nearly all other tetrapods (or four- legged animals), evolved on land. Marine mammals are a diverse assemblage of at least seven distinct evolutionary lineages of mammals that independently returned to the sea and include whales, dolphins, and porpoises (Cetartiodactylans); seals, sea lions, and walruses (Pinnipedia); sea cows (Sirenia); extinct sea cow relatives (Desmostylians); polar bears; sea and marine otters; and extinct aquatic sloths. The secondary adaptation of mammals to life in water required various morphological specializations, including for some lineages dramatic changes in body size and shape compared to their terrestrial relatives. Marine mammals are relatively large, with streamlined bodies and reduced appendages (for example, small or no external ears) and thick fur or fat layers for insulation. Other modifi cations for swimming and diving include the transformation of limbs into fl ippers and/or use of the tail for propulsion in water. <...>

Shelley's lines paint a picture of a lost world, a world resurrected from the antiquities of Greek mythology. But Shelley had more than ancient legends to go on; he was acutely aware of the discoveries of great extinct beasts from the writings of contemporary naturalists. It is known that Shelley attended lectures on mineralogy at Oxford and possessed a library of scientific works which included the writings of Newton, Laplace, Herschel, Davy and Erasmus Darwin. By 1812 he was familiar with James Parkinson's Organic remains published in three volumes between 1804 and 1811.

There are about 4,600 species of animals today that are called mammals because, despite an astonishing diversity of form and habitat, they all share a long list of characters not found in any other organisms, such as the presence of mammary glands, the single bone in the lower jaw, and the neocortex of the forebrain. This makes them unambiguously distinct from their closest living relatives, and their unique characters together define a monophyletic taxon, the class Mammalia. Three subgroups are readily distinguished amongst the living mammals.

To succeed in writing a book about the age of mammals in Europe appears to be a difficult goal, especially in light of such brilliant precedents as The Age of Mammals by H. F. Osborn and The Age of Mammals by Bjo¨rn Kurten. In between this book and the 1971 version of The Age of Mammals there is not only the extraordinary scientific personality of Kurten but also thirty years of additional knowledge about fossil mammals and the environment in which they evolved.

I’ve already written several books about fossils and paleontology, including a college textbook in paleontology for upper-level undergraduates (Bringing Fossils to Life, 2nd ed., 2013, Columbia University Press) and a popular book about fossil collecting (Fantastic Fossils, 2020, Columbia University Press), but I’ve never found a book that gives a good general introduction to vertebrate history for the general reader and fossil enthusiast with high-quality color illustrations, so this book is intended to fll that need.

В сборник включены тезисы докладов LVII сессии Палеонтологического общества на тему «Темпы эволюции органического мира и биостратиграфия», отражающие различные направления этой крупной проблемы, начиная с докембрия и кончая голоценом. В ряде тезисов освещаются вопросы темпов развития различных групп органического мира, скорость появления, длительность существования и скорость вымирания таксонов, появление и развитие микроорганизмов в докембрии, эволюция биосферы фанерозоя в целом. Часть тезисов затрагивает вопросы влияния эколого-палеогеографических обстановок (литолого-фациальной зональности, биотических и абиотических событий в истории Земли) на изменение биоразнообразия и темпы эволюции фауны и флоры. Большинство тезисов посвящено проблемам использования этапов и темпов эволюции различных групп организмов при разработке и совершенствовании региональных корреляционных стратиграфических схем, сопоставления границ региональных стратонов в западных, центральных и восточных регионах России.

Сборник рассчитан на широкий круг палеонтологов, стратиграфов и геологов различных направлений геологической науки.

This book would not have been as it is without the trenchant editing of Heather Godwin, nor without the punctilious attentions of Stuart Proffitt. I owe them both a great debt. I sincerely thank Robin Cocks and Neale Monks for acting as scientific readers, and for commenting on sundry facts. Claire Mellish kindly drew two of the diagrams. I particularly thank Chris Stringer, Theya Molleson and Robert Kruszynski for anthropological advice. Many friends and colleagues helped me by providing illustrations and advice (they carry no responsibility if I did not heed the latter).

Thomas Henry Huxley proclaimed the Origin of Species to be “the most potent instrument for the extension of the realm of knowledge which has come into man’s hands since Newton’s Principia.” Ernst Mayr, arguably the greatest evolutionary theorist since Darwin, asserted that the Origin of Species triggered the greatest paradigm shift in the history of science. The late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, who inherited Huxley’s mantle as public intellectual, called the theory of evolution one of the half dozen most important ideas in the entire history of Western thought. The philosopher of science Daniel Dennett called evolution the most dangerous idea in the history of science.<...>