Country United Kingdom Publication date 1990, 1997, 2005, 2014 Pages 472 Originally published 1990 Page count 472 | Language English Media type Paperback ISBN 0-632-05637-1 Illustrator John Sibbick | |
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Genres Vertebrate, Fossil, Biology, Geology Publishers Wiley-Blackwell, Chapman & Hall Similar Works by Michael Benton, Vertebrate books | ||
Vertebrate Palaeontology is a basic textbook on vertebrate paleontology by Michael J. Benton, published by Blackwell's. It has so far appeared in four editions, published in 1990, 1997, 2005, and 2014. It is designed for paleontology graduate courses in biology and geology as well as for the interested layman.
The book is widely used, and has received excellent reviews:
The book gives an overall account of every major group of living and fossil vertebrate. At the rear of the book is a phylogenetic classification which combines both the Linnaean hierarchy and the cladistic arrangement, and has been used as a guideline for the Wikipedia pages on living and extinct vertebrate taxa. However, some of Benton's classification differs from that in the Tree of Life Web Project, especially as regards the relationship of early amphibian groups (Batrachomorpha and Reptiliomorpha).