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Historical tests of the absolute completeness of the fossil record of tetrapods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

W. Desmond Maxwell  and
Michael J. Benton
W. Desmond Maxwell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, U.K.
Michael J. Benton
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, England, U.K.
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Abstract

Six compilations of fossil tetrapod families, spanning 100 years, each contain a broadly similar diversity pattern since the Upper Devonian. Comparison of four recent data bases, one of which is derived from a strict cladistic treatment, reveals widespread taxonomic and stratigraphic inaccuracies in three earlier data bases. Improvement of our interpretation of the tetrapod fossil record will come through continued taxonomic and stratigraphic revision as well as discovery of new fossils.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , Summer 1990 , pp. 322 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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