The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs

• Preface; Introduction; Part I. The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs: The Time and the Setting: 1. Historical aspects of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary problem Edwin H. Colbert; 2. Fossil plants and the Triassic-Jurassic boundary Sidney Ash; Part II. Late Triassic Vertebrate Taxa and Faunas: 3. Thoughts on the origin of the Theropoda Samuel P. Welles; 4. Structure and function of the tarsus in the phytosaurs (Reptilia: Archosauria) J. Michael Parrish; 5. On the type material of Coelophysis Cope (Saurischis: Theropoda), and a new specimen from the Petrified Forest of Arizona (Late Triassic: Chinle Formation) Kevin Padian; 6. The ichnogenus Atreipus and its significance for Triassic biostratigraphy Paul E. Olsen and Donald Baird; 7. The limb posture of kannemeyeriid dicynodonts: functional and ecological considerations Laurie R. Walter; 8. A new family of mammals from the lower part of the French Rhaetic Denise Sigogneau-Russell, R. M. Frank and J. Hemmerlé; 9. Vertebrate paleontology of the Dockum Group, western Texas and eastern New Mexico Phillip A. Murry; 10. The Late Triassic Dockum vertebrates: their stratigraphic and paleobiogeographic significance Sankar Chatterjee; 11. A new vertenrate fauna from the Dockum Formation (Late Triasssic) of eastern New Mexico J. Michael Parrish and Kenneth Carpenter; 12. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Late Triassic Chinle Formation, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona: preliminary results R. A. Long and Kevin Padian; Part III. Taxa and Trends Across the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary: 13. Triassic and Jurassic fishes: patterns of diversity Amy R. McCune and Bobb Schaeffer; 14. Triassic and Early Jurassic turtles Eugene S. Gaffney; 15. Archosaur footprints at the terrestrial Triassic-Jurassic transition Hartmut Haubold; 16. Herbivorous adaptations of Late Triassic and Early Jurassic dinosaurs Pater M. Galton; 17. Masticatory apparatus of the larger herbivores during Late Triassic and early Jurassic times A. W. Crompton and J. Attridge; 18. On Triassic and Jurassic mammals William A. Clemens; Part IV. Early Jurassic Vertebrate Taxa and Faunas: 19. The early radiation and phylogenetic relationships of the Jurassic sauropod dinosaurs, based on vertebral anatomy José F. Bonaparte; 20. Earliest records of Batrachopus from the southwestern United States, and a revision of some early Mesozoic crocodylomorph ichnogenera Paul E. Olsen and Kevin Padian; 21. A brief introduction to the Lower Lufeng saurischian fauna (Lower Jurassic: Lufeng, Yunnan, People's Republic of China) A. L. Sun and K. H. Cui; 22. Relationships and biostratigraphic significance of the Tritylodontidae (Synapsida) from the Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona Hans Dieter Sues; 23. Vertebrate biostrarigraphy of the Glen canyon Group in northern Arizona James M. Clark and David E. Fastovsky; Part V. Macroevolutionary Patterns of the Triassic-Jurassic Transition: 24. The Late Triassic tetrapod extinction events Michael J. Benton; 25. Correlation of continental Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sediments, and patterns of the Triassic-Jurassic tetrapod transition Paul E. Olsen and Hans-Dieter Sues; 26. Terrestrial vertebrate faunal succession during the Triassic J. M. Zawiskie; Summary and prospectus; Taxonomic index; Ichnotaxonomic index.

'The book is an important assemblage of current and recent research on a critical 'moment' in the history of terrestrial vertebrate life. It will be an important reference for years to come for everyone interested in the Triassic-Jurassic faunal transition.' American Scientist