Re: On predation.
chris brochu (gator@mail.utexas.edu)
9 Nov 1995 15:54:13 GMT
In article <bbur.89.000A103B@wpo.nerc.ac.uk> Bill Burnett,
bbur@wpo.nerc.ac.uk writes:
>Thanks for your 2 recent croc posts... Can you suggest a good croc
>evolution/biogeography book? (or a series of refs.) You've fired my
>imagination...
Perhaps the best book on the subject for the general public is the Facts
on File volume entitled "Crocodiles and Alligators," edited by C.A. Ross.
I don't have it in front of me, but most larger book store chains should
be able to get it.
As for croc systematics and evolution, there is nothing currently
available that I could recommend for anyone other than a diehard
systematist. Buffetaut has a chapter in the abovementioned book, but
with regard to extant croc evolution - my current bailiwick - he is
rather scant. Jim Clark's chapter in "In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs"
(Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994) is a good analysis of crocodyloform
systematics and addresses most of the current issues. From a
morphologists perspective, Mark Norell's paper in Journal of Herpetology
(1989) is still the standard reference on extant croc systematics;
molecular research has yielded slightly different results.
There was a symposium published in American Zoologist in 1988 or 1989
with several papers concerning systematics, biogeography, physiology, and
morphology, but much has been done since then. You might also check any
of the Biology of the Reptilia volumes - in particular, vol. 14a has a
magnificent chapter on croc embryology by Mark Ferguson.
chris
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