Invertebrate paleontology
Encyclopedia
Whether it is considered to be a subfield of paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, paleozoology
Paleozoology
Paleozoology, also spelled as palaeozoology , is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of multicellular animal remains from geological contexts, and the use of these fossils in the reconstruction of prehistoric environments and ancient...
, or paleobiology
Paleobiology
Paleobiology is a growing and comparatively new discipline which combines the methods and findings of the natural science biology with the methods and findings of the earth science paleontology...
, this discipline is the scientific study of prehistoric invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s by analyzing invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s in the geologic record.
By invertebrates are meant the non-vertebrate creatures of the kingdom
Kingdom (biology)
In biology, kingdom is a taxonomic rank, which is either the highest rank or in the more recent three-domain system, the rank below domain. Kingdoms are divided into smaller groups called phyla or divisions in botany...
Animalia (or Metazoa) in the biotic
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
domain
Domain (biology)
In biological taxonomy, a domain is the highest taxonomic rank of organisms, higher than a kingdom. According to the three-domain system of Carl Woese, introduced in 1990, the Tree of Life consists of three domains: Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya...
of Eukaryota. By phyletic
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
definition, these many-celled, sub-vertebrate animals lack a vertebral column
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
, spinal column, vertebrae, backbone
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
, or long, full-length notochord
Notochord
The notochord is a flexible, rod-shaped body found in embryos of all chordates. It is composed of cells derived from the mesoderm and defines the primitive axis of the embryo. In some chordates, it persists throughout life as the main axial support of the body, while in most vertebrates it becomes...
-- in contrast, of course, to the vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s in the one phylum of Chordata.
Relatedly, invertebrates have never had a cartilaginous or bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
y internal skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
, with its skeletal supports, gill slit
Gill slit
Gill slits are individual openings to gills, i.e., multiple gill arches, which lack a single outer cover. Such gills are characteristic of Cartilaginous fish such as sharks, rays, sawfish, and guitarfish. Most of these have five pairs, but a few species have 6 or 7 pairs...
s, rib
Rib
In vertebrate anatomy, ribs are the long curved bones which form the rib cage. In most vertebrates, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the chest cavity. They serve to protect the lungs, heart, and other internal organs of the thorax...
s and jaw
Jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
s. Finally, throughout geologic time, invertebrates have remained non-craniate creatures; that is, they never developed a cranium, nerve-chord
Dorsal nerve cord
The dorsal nerve cord is one of the embryonic features unique to chordates, along with a notochord, a post-anal tail and pharyngeal slits. The dorsal nerve cord is a hollow cord dorsal to the notochord.It is formed from a part of the ectoderm that rolls, forming the hollow tube, compared to other...
brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
, skull
Skull
The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...
, or hard protective braincase (unlike many vertebrates).
Invertebrate terminology in science
In the many decades since Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, a pioneering biologistBiologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
and evolutionist, first conceptualized and coined the category "Invertebrata" (between 1793 and 1801) and the term "Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
" (in 1802), zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
has come to recognize that the non-vertebrate category is not a scientifically valid
Validity
In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....
, monophyletic taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
. Evolutionary biology and developmental biology
Developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...
(a.k.a. "evo-devo") now consider the term "Invertebrata" to be both polyphyletic and paraphyletic. Nevertheless, most earth science
Earth science
Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences...
departments continue to employ this term; and paleontologists find it both useful and practical in evaluating fossil invertebrates and—consequently -- invertebrate evolution.
However, there is one contemporary caveat: Paleobiologists and microbiologist
Microbiologist
A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
s in the 21st century no longer classify
Biological classification
Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....
one-celled "animal-like" microbes either as invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s or as animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s.
For example, the commonly fossilized foraminifera
Foraminifera
The Foraminifera , or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists which are among the commonest plankton species. They have reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net...
("forams") and radiolarians -- zooplankton
Zooplankton
Zooplankton are heterotrophic plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word "zooplankton" is derived from the Greek zoon , meaning "animal", and , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"...
both formerly grouped under either an animal phylum or animal sub-kingdom called Protozoa
Protozoa
Protozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...
("first animals") -- are now placed in the kingdom or super-kingdom Protista or Protoctista (and thus called protists or protoctists).
Thus modern invertebrate paleontologists deal largely with fossils of this more strictly defined Animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
Kingdom
Kingdom (biology)
In biology, kingdom is a taxonomic rank, which is either the highest rank or in the more recent three-domain system, the rank below domain. Kingdoms are divided into smaller groups called phyla or divisions in botany...
(excepting Phylum
Phylum
In biology, a phylum The term was coined by Georges Cuvier from Greek φῦλον phylon, "race, stock," related to φυλή phyle, "tribe, clan." is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division....
Chordata), Phylum Chordata being the exclusive focus of vertebrate paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology is a large subfield to paleontology seeking to discover the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord, through the study of their fossilized remains...
. Protist
Protist
Protists are a diverse group of eukaryotic microorganisms. Historically, protists were treated as the kingdom Protista, which includes mostly unicellular organisms that do not fit into the other kingdoms, but this group is contested in modern taxonomy...
fossils are then the main focus of micropaleontology
Micropaleontology
Micropaleontology is the branch of paleontology that studies microfossils.-Microfossils:...
, while plant fossils are the chief focus paleobotany
Paleobotany
Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany , is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments , and both the evolutionary history of plants, with a...
. Together these four represent the traditional taxonomic divisions of paleontologic
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
study.
Origins and modern evolution of invertebrate paleontology
Invertebrate fossilization
When it comes to the fossil record, soft-bodied and minuscule invertebrates—such as hydrasHydra (genus)
Hydra is a genus of simple fresh-water animal possessing radial symmetry. Hydras are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa. They can be found in most unpolluted fresh-water ponds, lakes, and streams in the temperate and tropical regions and can be found by...
, jelli
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
es, flatworm
Flatworm
The flatworms, known in scientific literature as Platyhelminthes or Plathelminthes are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrate animals...
s, hairworms, nematode
Nematode
The nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...
s, ribbon worms, rotifer
Rotifer
The rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by Rev. John Harris in 1696, and other forms were described by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1703...
s and roundworms -- are infrequently fossilized. As a result, paleontologists and other fossil hunter
Fossil collecting
Fossil collecting is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs...
s must often rely on trace fossil
Trace fossil
Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
s, microfossils, or chemofossil residue when scouting for these prehistoric creatures.
Hard-bodied and large invertebrates are much-more commonly preserved; typically as sizeable macrofossil
Macrofossil
Macrofossils are preserved organic remains large enough to be visible without a microscope. Most fossils discussed in the article Fossil are macrofossils.-Macrofossil contrasted with Microfossil:...
s. These invertebrates are more frequently preserved because their hard parts—for example, shell, armor
Armour (zoology)
Armour in animals is external or superficial protection against attack by predators, formed as part of the body , usually through the hardening of body tissues, outgrowths or secretions. It has therefore mostly developed in 'prey' species...
, plates, test
Test (biology)
A test is a term used to refer to the shell of sea urchins, and also the shell of certain microorganisms, such as testate foraminifera and testate amoebae....
s, exoskeleton
Exoskeleton
An exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton of, for example, a human. In popular usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells". Examples of exoskeleton animals include insects such as grasshoppers...
, jaw
Jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
s or teeth -- are composed of silica (silicon dioxide
Silicon dioxide
The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica , is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula '. It has been known for its hardness since antiquity...
), calcite
Calcite
Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...
or aragonite
Aragonite
Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the two common, naturally occurring, crystal forms of calcium carbonate, CaCO3...
(both forms of calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...
), chitin
Chitin
Chitin n is a long-chain polymer of a N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose, and is found in many places throughout the natural world...
(a protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
often infused with tricalcium phosphate
Tricalcium phosphate
Tricalcium phosphate is a calcium salt of phosphoric acid with the chemical formula Ca32. It is also known as tribasic calcium phosphate or "bone ash" ....
), or keratin
Keratin
Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...
(an even-more complex protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
), rather than the vertebrate bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
(hydroxyapatite) or cartilage
Cartilage
Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...
of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es and land-dwelling tetrapod
Tetrapod
Tetrapods are vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are all tetrapods; even snakes and other limbless reptiles and amphibians are tetrapods by descent. The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian...
s.
The chitinous jaws of annelid
Annelid
The annelids , formally called Annelida , are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 17,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches...
s (such as the marine scolecodonts
Scolecodonts
A scolecodont is the jaw of a polychaete annelid, a common type of fossil-producing segmented worm useful in invertebrate paleontology. Scolecodonts are common and diverse microfossils, which range from the Cambrian period to the present...
) are sometimes preserved as fossils; while many arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s and inarticulate
Inarticulata
Inarticulata was historically defined as one of the two classes of the phylum Brachiopoda and referred to those having no hinge. The other class was Articulata, meaning articulated – having a hinge between the dorsal and ventral valves...
brachiopod
Brachiopod
Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection...
s have easily fossilized hard parts of calcite
Calcite
Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...
, chitin
Chitin
Chitin n is a long-chain polymer of a N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose, and is found in many places throughout the natural world...
, or keratin
Keratin
Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...
. The most common and often-found macrofossils are the very hard calcareous
Calcareous
Calcareous is an adjective meaning mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.-In zoology:...
shells of articulate
Articulata (Brachiopoda)
The Articulata is a class of brachiopods which comprises those with hinged, calcareous shells that generally bear well developed teeth and sockets and a simple muscle system...
brachiopod
Brachiopod
Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection...
s (that is, the everyday "lampshells") and of mollusks (such as the omnipresent clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, mussels and oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s). On the other hand, non-shelly slug
Slug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
s and non-tubiferous worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s (for instance, earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
s) have only occasionally been preserved due to their lack of hard parts.
Taxonomy of commonly fossilized invertebrates
Further reading
Although these books are not footnoted in this article, the following are well-illustrated, well-organized—and often well-worn—guides to invertebrate (and sometimes other) fossils:- Paolo Arduini (1987), Simon and Schuster's Guide to Fossils (Old Tappan, New Jersey: FiresideFiresideAs a noun, fireside may refer to:* A fireside, the area near a domestic fireplace or a fire ring* A fireside , an evening meeting in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints * an apple cultivar, see Fireside...
), 320 pages. ISBN 0671631322. - James R. Beerbower (1968). Search for the Past: An Introduction to Paleontology (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall), 512 pages.
- R. S. Boardman and others (1985). Fossil Invertebrates.
- British Museum of Natural History (1969). British Palaeozoic Fossils (London, England: British Museum of Natural History).
- Euan N. K. Clarkson (1998). Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution (London, England: Allen and Unwin), 468 pages. ISBN 9780632052387.
- Peter Doyle (1996), Understanding Fossils: An Introduction to Invertebrate Paleontology (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
), 426 pages. ISBN 0471963518. - Carroll Lane Fenton and Mildred Adams FentonMildred Adams FentonMildred Adams Fenton trained in paleontology and geology at the University of Iowa. She coauthored dozens of general science books with her husband, Carroll Lane Fenton, including Records of Evolution , Land We Live On , and Worlds in the Sky .-Early life and education:Mildred Adams was born near...
(1958); updated by Patricia Vickers Rich and Thomas Hewitt Rich (1997). The Fossil Book: A Record of Prehistoric Life (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Courier Dover Publishing), from 482 to 760 pages. ISBN 0486293718. - W. R. Hamilton and others (1974). A Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils (London, England: Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd.), 320 pages.
- W. B. Harland (1967). The Fossil Record (London, England: Geological Society of LondonGeological Society of LondonThe Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...
), 827 pages. - V. Lehmann and G. Hillmer (1983). Fossil Invertebrates (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
). - Harold L. Levin (1998), Ancient Invertebrates and Their Living Relatives (Boston: Prentice-Hall), 358 pages. ISBN 9780137489558.
- William H. Matthews III (1962). Fossils: An Introduction to Prehistoric Life (New York: Barnes and Noble), 337 pages.
- Helmut Mayr (1992). A Guide to Fossils (New York: Longman, Harlow).
- Raymond C. Moore and others (1952). Invertebrate Fossils (New York: McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
), 776 pages. ISBN 00704302. - J. W. Murray, editor (1985). Atlas of Invertebrate Macrofossils (Princeton: Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
), 256 pages. - Douglas PalmerDouglas PalmerDouglas Harold Palmer was the first African American mayor of Trenton, New Jersey.- Biography :He was born in Trenton and attended Trenton public schools. He then graduated from the Bordentown Military Institute in Bordentown, New Jersey...
(2004), Fossils (London, England: Dorling KindersleyDorling KindersleyDorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....
). - Frank H. T. Rhodes and others (1962). Fossils: A Guide to Prehistoric Life (New York: Golden Nature Guide), 242 pages.
- Henry Woodburn Shimer and Robert Rakes Shrock (1944/1983). Index Fossils of North America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology PressMIT PressThe MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
), 837 pages. - Robert Rakes Shrock and W. H. Twenhofel (1953). Invertebrate Paleontology (New York: McGraw-Hill).
- Ronald Singer (2000), Encyclopedia of Paleontology (London, England: RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
), 1,467 pages. ISBN 1884964966. - Ida Thompson (1982/2004). National Audubon SocietyNational Audubon SocietyThe National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...
Field Guide to North American Fossils (New York: Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
), 846 pages. - James W. ValentineJames W. ValentineJames W. Valentine is an American evolutionary biologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley...
(2004), On the Origins of Phyla (Chicago: University of Chicago Press). 608 pages. ISBN 0-226-84548-6. A discussion focusing on invertebrates during the Paleozoic era. - Cyril Walker and David Ward (2002). Smithsonian Handbook of Fossils (London, England: Dorling Kindersley), 320 pages.
External links
- A colorful, illustrated taxonomy of extinct and living invertebrate Metazoa by the University of California Museum of PaleontologyUniversity of California Museum of PaleontologyThe University of California Museum of Paleontology is a paleontology museum located on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley....
. - The invertebrate fossil record illustrated colorfully for Metazoa provided by the U.C. Museum of Paleontology.
- Educational and colorful introduction to the three domains of the Tree of Life -- as well as to the topic of "Understanding Evolution" -- sponsored by the U.C. Museum of Paleontology.
- An introduction to fossils by The Paleontology Portal, a project of four American institutions funded by the National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
. - The introduction to invertebrate fossils provided by The Paleontology Portal.
- Thousands of online pictures of invertebrate fossils. sponsored by the Peabody Museum at Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. - The taxonomy of the Metazoa Kingdom of animals provided by The Tree of Life Project.
- http://www.paleo.ku.edu/treatise.html Home site of the many volumes of the Treatise on Invertebrate PaleontologyTreatise on Invertebrate PaleontologyThe Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology published by the Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas Press, is a definitive multi-authored work of some 50 volumes, written by more than 300 paleontologists, and covering every phylum, class, order, family, and genus of fossil and...
, ] a site sponsored by both The Paleontological Institute at the University of KansasUniversity of KansasThe University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
and the Geological Society of AmericaGeological Society of AmericaThe Geological Society of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. The society was founded in New York in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchcock, John R. Proctor and Edward Orton and has been headquartered at 3300 Penrose...
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