Problematic Fossil Taxa

Problematic fossils--those groups of organisms that do not fit conveniently into any existing phylum--play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the history of life, being in effect early experiments. This lavishly illustrated volume provides careful analyses and descriptions--in anatomical, functional, and developmental terms--of most of the major problematic fossil taxa. Sixteen original papers, written by internationally recognized scholars, discuss the features that make these taxa problematic and that provide clues to their phylogenetic relationships. Since Precambrian groups have been well covered in the existing literature, Hoffman and Nitecki focus on Paleozoic, and especially Early Paleozoic organisms, although Precambrian biota are also discussed.brContributorsbr/brbrForeword: Why and How to Do Problematicabr/brbr1. Introduction: The Problem of the Problematicabr/brbr2. The Puzzle of Alga-Like Problematica or Rummaging Around in the Algal Wastebasketbr/brbr3. Receptaculitids and Their Relationship to Other Problematic Fossilsbr/brbr4. Radiocyathidsbr/brbr5. Considerations on Systematic Placement of the Styliolines (Incertae Sedis: Devonian)br/brbr6. Precambrian Problematic Animals: Their Body Plan and Phylogenybr/brbr7. Chondrophorine Hydrozoans as Problematic Fossilsbr/brbr8. Problematica of the Early Cambrianbr/brbr9. The Cambrian Net-Like Fossil Microdictyonbr/brbr10. Turrilepadida and Other Machaeridiabr/brbr11. The Phylum Conulariidabr/brbr12. Early Stromatoporoidsbr/brbr13. Problematica from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbiabr/brbr14. The Enigma of Graptolite Ancestry: Lesson from a Phylogenetic Debatebr/brbr15. Conodontsbr/brbr16. Chordate Affinities of the Conodontsbr/brbrAuthor Index; Subject Indexbr/brbr