Gaining Ground: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods

Abstract

Jennifer A. Clack, 2002, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 369 p. (Hardback $50.00) ISBN: 0-253-34054-3. Approximately ten years ago, a colleague and I were asked to write a review (Lombard and Sumida, 1992) of the seminal events bearing on our understanding of early tetrapods in the preceding quarter century (1965–1990). Although some of the earlier work by Jennifer Clack was indeed listed as important during that period, it was surprising that the most significant events during that time seemed to be the impact of geology and plate tectonics on vertebrate paleontology. During the subsequent ten years the discovery of fossils themselves returned to the forefront of vertebrate paleontology. Only the documentation of feathered dinosaurs from China has generated changes so fundamental in our understanding of the relationships of vertebrate groups to the degree recently demonstrated by early tetrapods. The story of that research is the basis of Gaining Ground. Given the fundamental importance of the increase in data bearing on early tetrapod evolution, it is pleasant surprise to see a volume by a prominent scientist that is both compelling to researchers, yet written in a manner that will aid instructors in undergraduate and postgraduate biology and geology. With Gaining Ground, Jennifer Clack flies in the face of the plethora of popular and professional books on dinosaurs, with a book on animals that are far older. By writing a book that babies no one, yet can be read both by the intelligent layman and academic alike, the author demonstrates that these older animals can be just as compelling. The volume brings together her work of the past two decades on Paleozoic tetrapods, with particular focus on her specialty—the earliest known tetrapods of the Late Devonian. This is combined with a synthesis of other workers' efforts on somewhat younger taxa to provide what …