''Vertebrate Palaeontology'' is a basic textbook on vertebrate paleontology by

Michael J. Benton Michael James Benton One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 8 April 1956) is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences ...

, published by Blackwell's. It has so far appeared in four editions, published in 1990, 1997, 2005, and 2015. It is designed for

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

graduate courses in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

as well as for the interested layman. The book is widely used, and has received excellent reviews: *"This book is a ′must′ for a biology or geology student and researcher concerned by palaeontology. It perfectly succeeds in showing how palaeobiological information is obtained". Review of 3rd edition, ''Zentrallblatt fur Geologie und Palaontologie'', 2007. *"One anticipates that Benton's ''Vertebrate Palaeontology'' will become the 'industry standard', and as such it should occupy space on the shelves of all involved in undergraduate teaching". Ivan Sansom, School of Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham. Review of the 2nd edition for the Micropalaeontological Society. *"... his expertise in a range of problems of vertebrate paleontology is amazing. As a result the contents of his book revery well balanced". Jerzy Dzik, Instytut Palaeobiologii PAN, Warsaw. Review of the 3rd edition for the ''Journal of Sedimentary Research''. The book gives an overall account of every major group of living and fossil vertebrate. At the rear of the book is a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

classification which combines both the Linnaean hierarchy and the cladistic arrangement, and has been used as a guideline for the Wikipedia pages on living and extinct vertebrate taxa. However, some of Benton's classification differs from that in the Tree of Life Web Project, especially as regards the relationship of early amphibian groups ( Batrachomorpha and Reptiliomorpha).

Bibliography

* Benton, M. J. (2005), ''Vertebrate Paleontology'', 3rd ed. Blackwell Science Ltd * Benton, M. J. (1995) ''Paleontología y evolución de los Vertebrados''. Ed. Perfils. . Spanish translation by Aurora Grandal-d'Anglade upon the first edition. * Benton, M. J. (2007), ''Paläontologie der Wirbeltiere'', Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil. German translation by Hans-Ulrich Pfretzschner based upon the third edition.
Publisher's Website and Book Overview

References

Paleontology books {{zoology-book-stub