Functional Morphology of the Invertebrate Skeleton

Abstract

Functional Morphology of the Invertebrate Skeleton, Enrico Savazzi, 1999, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 712 p. (Hardcover $275.00) ISBN: 0-047-197776-4. To paleontologists, Seilacher's triangle represents one of the most widely recognizable images, probably surpassed only by Sepkoski's “three faunas.” Seilacher stressed that form can best be understood in an evolutionary context by considering historical, fabricational (morphogenetic), and functional factors. The triangle was a conceptual device and not a methodological guide; although it emphasized all three factors, it did not preclude analyzing each independently. Therefore, studies of functional morphology could be defined as those concerned only with the functional corner. Such definitions, however, rarely constrain the work of researchers and a variety of approaches and methods, some emphasizing all three factors, have come under the rubric of “functional morphology.” The one thing that most researchers would agree on as Enrico Savazzi notes, is that functional morphology explores the “Relationships between form and function of an organism;” this then is the theme of “Functional Morphology of the Invertebrate Skeleton,” a new book that Savazzi has edited. To achieve its goal of providing “the broadest summary of functional morphology of the invertebrate skeleton under a single cover since D'Arcy Thompson's classic,” Savazzi has gathered 43 …