Lecture Topics
Introduction	Benton	Martin
Traditional vs cladistic classification	Ch 2.4	Ch 3
Earth history and vertebrate evolution		Ch 1
The Cambrian Explosion		Ch 4
Diversity of the Vertebrates
Origins of the vertebrates	Ch 1; 3.1-3.2
The vertebrate body plan
The early Paleozoic Era
Agnathic fish	Ch 3.3
Rise of jawed vetebrates & radiation of the chondrichthyes	Ch 3.4 - 3.7
Dominance of the osteichthyes	Ch 3.9.1
The late PaleozoicEra
The sarcopterygii and the origin and radiation of tetrapods	Ch 3.9.2-3.9.4	pp 191-196
The radiation of tetrapods	Ch 4	pp 196-208
Rise and decline of the amphibians	Ch 4.5 - 4.7
Early amniotes	Ch 5.1 - 5.3
The close of thePaleozoicEra
Early amniote radiations	Ch 5.3-5.4
Synapsid reptiles and the evolution of mammals	Ch 5.5 - 5.6 &  Ch 10.1- 10.5	Ch 8
Diapsid lines: advanced archosaurs and primitive lepidosaurs	Ch 5.5-5.6; 10.1-10.4;
The Mesozoic Era
Evolution of dinosarus from early archosaurs	Ch 6
Radiation of the dinosaurs	Ch 8
The bird/dinosaur connection	Ch 9	Ch 7
Extinction of the dinsoaurs	Ch 8.12
Extinction as a driving force in evolution
The Cenozoic Era
Radiation of the mammals	Ch 10
The mammalian life-style
Major mammalian lines		pp 209 - 217
Human evolution