Messel : an insight into the history of life and of the earth

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Messel : an insight into the history of life and of the earth

edited by Stephan Schaal and Willi Ziegler ; translated by Monika Shaffer-Fehre

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1992

Available at  / 3 libraries

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"First published in German by Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main"--T.p. verso

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The oil shales of Tertiary age at Messel, near Frankfurt, are of special interest.. They contain in an exceptional state of preservation the abundant remains of animals and plants that lived some 50 million years ago. Not only the skeletons and other hard parts are preserved in detail but also the soft tissues that are normally lost in the process of fossilization. The animals include insects, lizards, bats, horses and primates. The fossil plant remains include ferns, conifers and palms. All these are descrdibed and illustrated, and the biogeographical problems that they present are discussed. This book will be of value not only to palaeontologists but also to zoologists and botanists, and indeed to all who are interested in the history of life on the earth.

Table of Contents

  • Curriculum vitae of the messel pit, Stephan Schaal
  • Europe in the eocene - messel in time and space, Jens Lorenz Franzen
  • the genesis of the messel oil shale, Stephan Schaal
  • the vegetation - fossil plants as witnesses of a warm climate, Friedemann Schaarschmidt
  • giant ants and other rarities - the insect fauna, Herbert Lutz
  • ancient knights-in-armour and modern cannibals, Norbert Micklich
  • amphibia at lake messel - salamanders, toads and frogs, Michael Wuttke
  • freshwater turtles, Thomas Keller and Stpehan Schaal
  • crocodiles - large ancient reptiles, Thomas Keller and Stephan Schaal
  • lizards - reptiles en route to success, Thomas Keller and Stephan Schaal
  • messel birds - a lang-based assemblage, Dieter Stefan Peters
  • the marsupials - inconspicuous opossums, Wighart von Koenigswald and Gerhard Storch
  • primitive insectivores, extraordinary hedgehogs and long fingers, Wighart von Koenigswald, et al
  • bats - already highly specialized insect predators, Jorg Habersetzer, et al
  • our closest relatives - the primates, Jens Lorenz Franzen and Wighart von Koenigswald
  • pangolins - almost unchanged for 50 million years, Gerhard Storch and Gotthard Richter
  • the ant-eater eurotamandua - a South American in Europe, Gerhard Storch and Gotthard Richter
  • rodents - at the start of a great career, Wighart von Koenigswald, et al
  • carnivores - agile climbers and prey catchers, Rainer Springhorn
  • the arboreal kopidodon, a relative of primitive hoofed animals, Wighart von Koenigswald
  • the messel horse show and other odd-toed ungulates, Jens Lorenz Franzen
  • primitive even-toed ungulates - loners in the undergrowth, Jens Lorenz Franzen and Gotthard Richter
  • death and burial of the vertebrates, Michael Wuttke
  • conservation - dissolution - transformation, on the behaviour of biogrnic materials during fossilization, Micahel Wauttke
  • from excavation to exhibition piece, Michael Ackermann, et al
  • fossilized gut contents - analysis and interpretation, Gotthard Richter
  • the messel fauna and flora - a biogeographical puzzle, Gerhard Storch and Friedemann Schaarschmidt.

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