Ancient Marine Reptiles [Hardcover]

Jack M. Callaway (Editor), Elizabeth L. Nicholls (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0121552101 | ISBN-13: 978-0121552107 | Publication Date: March 14, 1997 | Edition: 1

Vertebrate evolution has led to the convergent appearance of many groups of originally terrestrial animals that now live in the sea. Among these groups are familiar mammals like whales, dolphins, and seals. There are also reptilian lineages (like plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, thalattosaurs, and others) that have become sea creatures. Most of these marine reptiles, often wrongly called "dinosaurs", are extinct. This edited book is devoted to these extinct groups of marine reptiles. These reptilian analogs represent useful models of the myriad adaptations that permit tetrapods to live in the ocean.

Key Features
* First book in more than 80 years devoted exclusively to fossil marine reptiles
* Documents the most current research on extinct marine reptiles
* Prepared by the world's most prominent experts in the field
* Well illustrated

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Editors Callaway and Nicholls demonstrate, though, that fossil marine reptiles have played critical roles in the historical development of vertebrate paleontology and evolutionary theory. Their book compiles articles on various ancient marine reptile groups written by primary experts in the field... Recommended for any upper-division undergraduate or graduate-level library collection with strong emphasis on paleontology, evolution, and/or vertebrate morphology."
--M.A. WILSON, College of Wooster in CHOICE
"Ancient Marine Reptiles provides an encyclopedic overview of major research accomplishments and frontiers in this new age. Editors Jack Callaway and Elizabeth Nicholls are important figures whose research collectively encompasses the majority of major marine reptile taxa and employs a broad range of methodologies. This volume will be a useful general reference to students and researchers seeking an introduction to the morphology, systematics, and faunal compositions of Mesozoic marine reptiles and will orient the reader to the range of research philosophies embraced by specialists in the field. Several contributions seem destined to become heavily cited [and] a lively interest in the reconstruction of evolutionary history is apparent through most of the volume. Callaway and Nicholls should be warmly thanked for placing contemporary marine reptile paleontology in the context of a scientific campaign that has continued for nearly two centuries and profoundly affected the general course of evolutionary sciences."
--SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
"Ancient Marine Reptiles provides an invaluable reference for anyone with research interests in the structure and phylogeny of extinct marine reptiles. It presents a significant amount of new information for the first time. The book is attractively produced (including a stunning cover painting), well-referenced, and well-illustrated."
--JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
"I applaud this volume. Most chapters are well-written and pertinent. The figures are informative and the references accurate."
--NATURE
"The most useful sections to a more general audience are the introductory chapters, offering a summary of recent work. My impression is that the editors have succeeded in presenting a cross-section of current research on extinct, aquatic, marine reptiles."
--COPEIA
"In a world so gaga over dinosaurs, it is pleasing to see marine reptiles get their due, as they do in this attractive, multi-authored volume of technical reports. This book covers the five major taxonomic groupings plus a section devoted to faunas, behavior and evolution. Each part has an excellent synthetic introduction that frames the major questions and reviews the overall taxonomy and phylogeny of that group. All told, this attractive book is a welcome compendium of the state of studies in marine reptiles. It will appeal to students of vertebrate paleontology and vertebrate biology."
--AMERICAN SCIENTIST
"...it has to be stated that this is an excellent book. There are some excellent illustrations. This volume is a tremendously welcome addition and is a beautiful production with a fantastic reproduction of William Stoute's painting of a mosasaur on the cover. It should be a de rigeur purchase for any palaeontologial library."
--Ian Jenkins in GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE (1999)
"Ancient Marine Reptiles illustrates that there is more to the 'Age of Dinosaurs' than dinosaurs, and that weird and wonderful monsters provide unique perspectives on the past."
--Tim Tokaryk in CANADIAN FIELD-NATURALIST (1999)

From the Back Cover

Vertebrate evolution has led to the convergent appearance of many groups of originally terrestrial animals that now live in the sea. Among these groups are familiar mammals like whales, dolphins, and seals. There are also reptilian lineages that have become sea creatures (like plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, thalattosaurs, and others). Most of these marine reptiles, often wrongly called "dinosaurs," are extinct. Ancient Marine Reptiles is devoted to these extinct groups of marine reptiles. These reptilian analogs represent useful models of the myriad adaptations that permit tetrapods to live in the ocean.
Key Features
* First book in more than 80 years devoted exclusively to fossil marine reptiles
* Documents the most current research on extinct marine reptiles
* Prepared by the world's most prominent experts in the field
* Well illustrated

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 501 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1 edition (March 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0121552101
• ISBN-13: 978-0121552107
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,870,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection of papers on extinct marine reptiles, July 11, 1999

By 

Mike Everhart ([e-mail]) (Kansas, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancient Marine Reptiles (Hardcover)

The editors, Callaway and Nicholls, have assembled 17 papers describing the results of current research by the experts on the various groups of extinct marine reptiles (Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, Turtles, Mosasaurs and Crocodiles), and their associated faunas, behavior and evolution. Well researched and profusely illustrated, this book is a must read for those seriously interested in the biology, ecology and paleontology of this diverse and fascinating group of animals.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a book for the dinofans, November 6, 2001

By 

Juan Carlos Morales "asquel" (Concord, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ancient Marine Reptiles (Hardcover)

If you were thinking about buying this book for your kids or a dinofan friend, a word of advise: it mightbe a bit over their heads. This book is basically an amalgamate of scientific papers without any editorial instrusion; they are true scientific papers for scientists in the style of scientific journals. Though profusely illustrated, it is not a field guide with lots of recreations and dioramas which might be what most kids and dinofans would want. Most of the illustrations are maps of the areas where a sample fossil was found or drawings and pictures of actual fossil bone at the site where found. Only the turtles and crocodiles sections of the book have some recreations of the creatures; but you will not find a single recreation drawing of an ichthyosaur. For the scientific reader this is a definite 5 star, for most everyone it might be only 2 or 3 star.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical Paleontological Herpetology!, November 28, 2009

By 

Randy J. Mercurio (Morrisville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ancient Marine Reptiles (Hardcover)

I basically agree with the three other reviews until the date of this review; however, just because some disappointed individuals were thinking they were getting a childrens book with cool artists renditions of some marine reptiles doesn't make it bad. This book is certainly geared towards the professional individual. I recommend it to those looking for a tome of information on ancient marine reptiles compiled from peer reviewed scientific literature. It may also be of interest to those who are serious about reptiles and want to learn more of their prehistoric past.