Publisher's Synopsis
The ammonoids (ammonites and goniatites) are a fossil group of cephalopods that are of particular interest because of their rapid rates of evolution. They first appeared about 385 Ma ago in the Devonian period and became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, some 65 Ma ago, together with dinosaurs and several other groups. The ammonoid representation in the fossil record, which spans such a long period of geological time, provides important evidence of a general nature bearing on problems of the evolutionary process. As a result, ammonoids have indeed been called the Drosophila of evolutionary studies because of the range of evolutionary problems to which they contribute.;In this volume, international experts on ammonoids are brought together to discuss evolutionary issues relating to this group. Special emphasis is given to the organic and environmental factors that may have influenced rates of speciation and extinction. The effects of climate and changes in sea level, global factors constraining evolution, the nature, causes, and periodicity of extinctions are among the themes explored. This book should thus be of interest to palaeobiologists and evolutionary biologists generally as well as to palaeontologists who are specifically concerned with the ammonoids.
