Paleoneurology of Amniotes: New Directions in the Study of Fossil Endocasts

DOZO, MARÍA TERESA; PAULINA-CARABAJAL ARIANA; MACRINI, THOMAS; WALSH STIG

Springer

Año: 2023 p. 840

978-3-031-13982-6

Paleoneurology is a branch of paleontology that is dedicated to the study of the anatomy and evolution of the nervous system of extinct animals. The earliest mention of a brain cavity cast was probably by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in the early nineteenth century, but Tilly Edinger is regarded as the founder of paleoneurology-proper due to the volume and detail of her work describing endocasts in different amniote lineages during the first half of the twentieth century. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, Harry Jerison pioneered quantitative approaches with the development of the encephalization quotient. This book provides a detailed examination of paleoneurology in the second decade of the twenty-first century, and its advances through new technologies, focusing on recent studies in the main amniote clades (reptiles, birds, and mammals). The volume provides a general picture of the great diversity of brain morphologies in different groups (stem and crown), the evolutionary history of brain structures and future directions of this field, testing old hypotheses with new methods. The book is organized into 21 chapters that are interrelated and organized in order to be read separately, and include references and key terms within each chapter.