Overview
- Addresses the biotic and abiotic factors that provide a context for metatherian evolution in South America throughout the Cenozoic Era
- Discusses the physiological constraints of living marsupials and their implications for the evolution of extinct metatherians
- Summarizes the paleogeographical context in which dispersal events transpired throughout the Americas, Antarctica, and Australasia
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Springer Earth System Sciences (SPRINGEREARTH)
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About this book
This book summarizes major aspects of the evolution of South American metatherians, including their epistemologic, phylogenetic, biogeographic, faunal, tectonic, paleoclimatic, and metabolic contexts. A brief overview of the evolution of each major South American lineage ("Ameridelphia", Sparassodonta, Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, Microbiotheria, and Polydolopimorphia) is provided. It is argued that due to physiological constraints, metatherian evolution closely followed the conditions imposed by global temperatures. In general terms, during the Paleocene and the early Eocene multiple radiations of metatherian lineages occurred, with many adaptive types exploiting insectivorous, frugivorous, and omnivorous adaptive zones. In turn, a mixture of generalized and specialized types, the latter mainly exploiting carnivorous and granivorous-folivorous adaptive zones, characterized the second half of the Cenozoic. In both periods, climate was the critical driver of their radiation andturnovers.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“The book is divided into seven chapters, starting with an introduction that includes a history of research conducted on these animals and finishing with a summary chapter focusing on milestones in the evolutionary history of this group. … Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals in paleontology and zoology.” (E. J. Sargis, Choice, Vol. 53 (9), May, 2016)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: A Brief History of South American Metatherians
Book Subtitle: Evolutionary Contexts and Intercontinental Dispersals
Authors: Francisco Goin, Michael Woodburne, Ana Natalia Zimicz, Gabriel M. Martin, Laura Chornogubsky
Series Title: Springer Earth System Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7420-8
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-94-017-7418-5Published: 29 October 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-94-017-7925-8Published: 23 August 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-94-017-7420-8Published: 16 October 2015
Series ISSN: 2197-9596
Series E-ISSN: 2197-960X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 237
Topics: Biogeosciences, Climate Change, Effects of Radiation/Radiation Protection, Biodiversity