The rise of reptiles. 320 million years of evolution / Расцвет репитилий. 320 миллионов лет эволюции

Reptiles are one of the most diverse groups of present- day vertebrates, with more than 
,


described species of crocodylians, lepidosaurs, and turtles. If one adds birds (which are a clade of derived dinosaurs), this number more than doubles. Reptiles also have a rich and varied fossil rec ord spanning more than 

million years. They include the largest land animals of all time, and they repeatedly and successfully invaded the sea and took ¡ight. An extraordinary wealth of new discoveries of extant and extinct reptiles in recent de cades has revolutionized our understanding of the evolutionary history of these animals, but there exists no current overview. Carroll ( ‚‚) provided the last major English- language review of this subject. Tatarinov (

„, 

 ) attempted a traditional synthesis of the evolutionary history of reptiles, which, in his usage, also included synapsids excluding mammaliaforms. Fi nally, Benton (
†) published an excellent introduction to the evolution of reptiles in his textbook for beginning students. Over the years several colleagues and students have asked me about a more current and detailed exploration of this topic. The pre sent work reviews the evolutionary history based on our current knowledge. I hope that it will be of use to advanced students of vertebrate zoology and paleontology. <...>