Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

The Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, published by the Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas Press, is a definitive multi-authored work of some 50 volumes, written by more than 300 authors, and covering every phylum, class, order, family, and genus of fossil and extant (still living) invertebrate genera (although genera with no fossil record have only very brief listing), along with their taxonomy, morphology, paleoecology and stratigraphic and geographical range. The work is not yet complete (for example there is no volume on post-Palaeozoic Caenogastropods) and every so often earlier volumes are revised.

Contents

[edit] History of the Project

Raymond C. Moore, the project's founder and editor, originally envisaged the Treatise as comprising three hefty large volumes and 3,000 pages in all.

The project began with work on a few mostly slim volumes in which a single senior specialist in a field would summarize a particular group, the result being a compilation of everything known at that time on that group. Examples of this stage of the project are Part G. Bryozoa, by Ray S. Bassler (the first volume, which came out in 1953), and Part P. Arthropoda Part 2, the Chelicerata by Alexander Petrokavich (1955/1956).

Around 1959 or 1960, as more and larger groups were being addressed, the incompleteness of the then current state of affairs became apparent. Several senior editors of the Treatise started major research programs to fill in the gaps. The volumes, while still maintaining the original format, began to change from being a set of single authored compilations into major research projects in their own right, with committees and a chief editor for each volume, with other authors and researchers assigned particular sections. Museum collections that had not been previously described were studied, and sometimee new major families and even orders had to be described. There was increasing attention being given to transitional fossils and evolutionary radiations, and eventually a much more complete summary was arrived at.

But even in the second set of volumes the various taxa were still described and organized in a classical Linnaean sense. More recent volumes began to introduce phylogenetic and cladistic ideas, along with new developments and discoveries in fields such as biogeography and molecular phylogeny, so that the current edition of the Brachiopoda (1997 to 2002 is classified according to a cladistic arrangement, with three subkingdoms and a large number of classes replaces the original two classes of Articulata and Inarticulata.

All these new discoveries necessitate revisions and additional volumes even of those taxa already covered, with groups like the Cnidario (vol F), Brachiopoda (vol H) and the Trilobita (vol O) each going from one to three large volumes.

[edit] Organization

From the beginning the character of the Treatise volumes has followed and further developed the pattern of the classic Invertebrate Paleontology (by Moore, Lalicker and Fischer 1953). There is a description of the basic anatomy and of modern members of the group, features of the fossils, a comprehensive illustrated glossary of terms, a short discussion of the evolutionary history of the group, a stratigraphic range chart, done at the level of the major subdivision (Lower, Middle and Upper) of each period. Then a listing and technical description of every known genus, along with geographic distribution (usually by continent only, occasionally by country) and stratigraphic range, with one or two representative species illustrated in the very early volumes largely by line drawings, but soon after by black and white photographs, and the appropriate reference for that genus. The date, authorship, and scientific history of every taxon is also provided. Finally there is a comprehensive bibliography and list of references. The more recent volumes and revisions also include new discoveries and discussions of numerical and cladistic methods, the nature of the genome of that group, molecular phylogeny, and so on.

[edit] List of Volumes

The following is the list of volumes currently published or in preparation.

  • Part A. Introduction, xxiii + 569 p., 371 fig., 1979.
  • (Part B. Protista 1 (Chrysomonadida, Coccolithophorida, Charophyta, Diatomacea, etc.) in preparation).
  • Part C. Protista 2 (Sarcodina, Chiefly "Thecamoebians" and Foraminiferida), Volumes 1 and 2, xxxi + 900 p., 653 fig., 1964.
  • Part D. Protista 3 (Protozoa: Chiefly Radiolaria, Tintinnina), xii + 195 p., 92 fig., 1954.
  • Part E. Archaeocyatha, Porifera, xviii + 122 p., 89 fig., 1955.
  • Part E, Revised. Archaeocyatha, Volume 1, xxx + 158 p., 107 fig., 1972.
  • Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volume 2, xxvii + 349 p., 135 fig., 10 tables. 2003.
  • Part E, Revised. Porifera, Volume 3, xxxi + 872 p., 506 fig., 1 table, 2004.
  • (Part E, Revised. Porifera (additional volumes in preparation).
  • Part F. Coelenterata, xvii + 498 p., 358 fig., 1956.
  • Part F. Coelenterata, Supplement 1 (Rugosa and Tabulata), xl + 762 p., 462 fig., 1981.
  • (Part F, Revised. Cnidaria (Scleractinia) in preparation).
  • Part G. Bryozoa, xii + 253 p., 175 fig., 1953.
  • Part G, Revised. Bryozoa, Volume 1 (Introduction, Order Cystoporata, Order Cryptostomata), xxvi + 626 p., 295 fig., 1983.
  • (Part G, Revised. Bryozoa - additional volumes in preparation).
  • Part H. Brachiopoda, xxxii + 927 p., 746 fig., 1965.
  • Part H, Revised. Brachiopoda, Volume 1 (Introduction), xx + 539 p., 417 fig., 40 tables, 1997.
  • Part H, Revised. Brachiopoda, Volumes 2 and 3 (Linguliformea, Craniiformea, Rhynchonelliformea [part]), xxx + 919 p., 616 fig., 17 tables, 2000.
  • Part H, Revised. Brachiopoda, Volume 4 (Rhynchonelliformea [part]), xxxix + 768 pp., 484 fig., 3 tables, 2002.
  • Part I. Mollusca 1 (Mollusca General Features, Scaphopoda, Amphineura, Monoplacophora, Gastropoda General Features, Archaeogastropoda, Mainly Paleozoic Caenogastropoda and Opisthobranchia), xxiii + 351 p., 216 fig., 1960.
  • (Part J, Gastropoda (Paleozoic Gastropoda) in preparation).
  • Part K. Mollusca 3 (Cephalopoda General Features, Endoceratoidea, Actinoceratoidea, Nautiloidea, Bactritoidea), xxviii + 519 p., 361 fig., 1964. (Part K, Revised. Mollusca 3 (Nautiloidea) in preparation).
  • Part L. Mollusca 4 (Ammonoidea), xxii + 490 p., 558 fig., 1957.
  • Part L, Revised. Mollusca 4, Volume 4 (Cretaceous Ammonoidea), xx + 362 p., 216 fig., 1996.
  • (Part L, Revised. Mollusca 4 (Ammonoidea) (additional volumes in preparation).
  • (Part M. Mollusca 5 (Coleoidea) in preparation).
  • Part N. Mollusca 6 (Bivalvia), Volumes 1 and 2 (of 3), xxxvii + 952 p., 613 fig., 1969; Volume 3, iv + 272 p., 153 fig., 1971.
  • Part O. Arthropoda 1 (Arthropoda General Features, Protarthropoda, Euarthropoda General Features, Trilobitomorpha), xix + 560 p., 415 fig., 1959.
  • Part O, Revised. Arthropoda 1 (Trilobita: Introduction, Order Agnostida, Order Redlichiida), xxiv + 530 p., 309 fig., 1997.
  • (Part O, Revised. Arthropoda 1 (Trilobita) (additional volumes in preparation).
  • Part P. Arthropoda 2 (Chelicerata, Pycnogonida, Palaeoisopus), xvii + 181 p., 123 fig., 1955 [1956].
  • Part Q. Arthropoda 3 (Crustacea, Ostracoda), xxiii + 442 p., 334 fig., 1961. (Revised Arthropoda 3 in preparation).
  • Part R. Arthropoda 4, Volumes 1 and 2 (Crustacea Exclusive of Ostracoda, Myriapoda, Hexapoda), xxxvi + 651 p., 397 fig., 1969. (Revised Arthropoda 4 in preparation).
  • Part R. Arthropoda 4, Volumes 3 and 4 (Hexapoda), xxii + 655 p., 265 fig., 1992.
  • Part S. Echinodermata 1 (Echinodermata General Features, Homalozoa, Crinozoa, exclusive of Crinoidea), Volumes 1 and 2, xxx + 650 p., 400 fig., 1967 [1968].
  • Part T. Echinodermata 2 (Crinoidea), Volumes 1-3, xxxviii + 1,027 p., 619 fig., 1978. (Revised Echinodermata 2 in preparation).
  • Part U. Echinodermata 3 (Asterozoans, Echinozoans), xxx + 695 p., 534 fig., 1966.
  • Part V. Graptolithina, xvii + 101 p., 72 fig., 1955.
  • Part V, Revised. Graptolithina, xxxii + 163 p., 109 fig., 1970. (Revised Graptolithina in preparation).
  • Part W. Miscellanea (Conodonts, Conoidal Shells of Uncertain Affinities, Worms, Trace Fossils, Problematica), xxv + 259 p., 153 fig., 1962.
  • Part W, Revised. Miscellanea, Supplement 1 (Trace Fossils and Problematica), xxi + 269 p., 110 fig., 1975. (Revised Trace Fossils in preparation).
  • Part W, Revised. Miscellanea, Supplement 2 (Conodonta), xxviii + 202 p., frontis., 122 fig., 1981.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Moore, R.C. and others (ed.) (1953 - ) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/r/e/Treatise_on_Invertebrate_Paleontology_a9f5.html"