Customer Reviews

Chinese Fossil Vertebrates

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There seems to be a fly-over tone and quality to this book. It lacks flow and cohesion. The photo quality is indeed poor. Lucas also mis-cites Henry Fairfield Osborn's theorizing -- the citation should be to Osborn's article in Science (April 13, 1900), particularly at p. 567, not his later 1910 book publication. As to recounting the Central Asiatic Expeditions, the treatment is uneven and somewhat speculative. Also, some spellings are inconsistent: eg., "Granter" (caption Figure 2-10) vs. "Granger" (text, p. 24), and neither is found in the Index; "William Morris" (p. 24) actually was "Frederick B. Morris," and, again, neither is found in the Index; the expedition sequence on p. 24 is muddled (incorrect use of "First," "Second," etc.) and also ignores those made in China beginning in 1921; and etc.

I have been a collector of Chinese fossils for several years and was interested in purchasing a book on the subject. This book is very informative, but the pictures are of such low quality that some of them cannot even be made out. In other cases, the fossil specimen is described with no photograph or drawing at all. All in all, this book is not worth the money for those who enjoy collecting and understanding Chinese fossils.

Chinese Fossil Vertebrates written by Spencer G. Lucas is a well-written book that covers what we know of the history of Vertebrate Paleontological Studies.

China is the world's third largest nation. Its vast land area contains extensive exposures of sedimentary rocks, many of nonmarine origin. Serious scientific study of China's vertebrate fossil record began in the last century. This record extends back to the Early Cambrian, nearly 550 million years. Today, Chinese vertebrate fossils represent one of the most extensive and important records of vertebrate evolution.

China has a very complex geology that encompasses great thickness of sedimentary rock of Phanerozoic age. Equally complex is the plate tectonic history of China prior to the late Mesozoic. Most workers recognize that during the Paleozoic and much of the Mesooic, what is now Chinaa belonged to several microplates. South China encompasses the region south of the Qinling fold belt. North China is north of the Qinling fold belt, extending east of the Qilian Mountains.

This book employs concepts of vertebrate biochronology... the use of fossil vertebrates to discriminate intervals of geologic time... earlier advocated by Lucas. The Basic unit of vertebrate biochronology is the biochron. A Biochron is simply as interval of geologic time that corresponds to the duration of a taxon. Each vertebrate taxon has a corresponding biochron.

This book is divided according to time:

Cambrian-Ordovician
Silurian
Devonian
Carboniferous
Pernian
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Miocene-Pilocene
Pleistocene

Each of these times represents a chapter in this book and each chapter is sub-divided as the vertebrate producing strata yeild its species via the biochron.

This is a scientific book and not a childrens book. There is a lot of information and nearly two decades of research experience within these pages. The text moves as the narrative is written in understandable language and you get a "feel" as to what it is like digging for vertebrate fossils... comparative analysis plays and important part in this book. All in all, this is an excellent text and fills a gap in the knowledge base of the times covered.