Eocene Biodiversity: Unusual Occurrences and Rarely Sampled Habitats

Abstract

Gregg F. Gunnell, ed., 2001, Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York, 442 p. (Hardcover, US $95.00) ISBN: 0-306-46528-0. The Eocene is a unique interval in earth history, characterized by profound faunal turnovers, pronounced climate changes, and an atypically rich, global, terrestrial faunal record. The impetus for Eocene Biodiversity: Unusual Occurrences and Rarely Sampled Habitats, as well as for a symposium of the same name at the 1998 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Snowbird, Utah, resulted from the recognition that although most Eocene fossil occurrences are from similar preservational and depositional settings, a growing number of unique occurrences (unusual depositional or geographical settings) characterize the Eocene. This book is both an exceptional reference for Eocene researchers as well as a friendly introduction for the newcomer. The sixteen chapters, outlined below, are authored by an international group of specialists and are, as a whole, well written and organized in a clear, consistent manner. This volume has two aims: to document rare and exceptional Eocene faunal occurrences and to compare these non-traditional fossil samples with classic Eocene faunas worldwide. The opening chapter, by Lance Grande, provides an updated review of the Green River Fish Fauna. Grande’s (1984) original tome long has been an essential tool in the analysis of lower vertebrates from the Green River Formation. It remains the template against which most other Eocene lacustrine fish faunas are compared. This chapter makes current earlier work on the taxonomy, evolutionary relationships, and community composition of the Green River lakes system, and likely will prove to be as valuable as its predecessors. Chapter 2 by Harrison et al. presents an update on recent research on Middle Eocene localities at Mahenge, Tanzania. Fossils in this area occur in a series of crater lakes that formed at the top of kimberlite pipes. The deposits …