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The Origin of Mosasaurs As a Model of Macroevolutionary Patterns and Processes

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Evolutionary Biology

Part of the book series: Evolutionary Biology ((EBIO,volume 27))

Abstract

One of the most important challenges in evolutionary theory is to explain the patterns and processes involved in the origin of major taxonomic groups, a phenomenon that is frequently associated with the transition between distinct environments and ways of life.

When a major group of organisms arises and first appears in the record, it seems to come fully equipped with a suite of new characters not seen in related, putatively ancestral groups. These radical changes in morphology and function appear to arise very quickly, especially in comparison with the normal pace of evolutionary change within a given lineage. If real, how do such changes occur? One must find out as much as possible about the actual pattern of change, and then try and fit a mechanistic explanation to it. (Thomson, 1988, p. 98)

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  1. Michael DeBraga

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada

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  1. Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1B1

    Michael DeBraga & Robert L. Carroll

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  1. Michael DeBraga
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  1. Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA

    Max K. Hecht

  2. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Ross J. MacIntyre

  3. University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, USA

    Michael T. Clegg

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DeBraga, M., Carroll, R.L. (1993). The Origin of Mosasaurs As a Model of Macroevolutionary Patterns and Processes. In: Hecht, M.K., MacIntyre, R.J., Clegg, M.T. (eds) Evolutionary Biology. Evolutionary Biology, vol 27. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2878-4_7

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