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Various stuff
Forgot to mention the dino issue of Natural History. A greatest
hits compendium of pretty short discussions. Nice.
Intro books on cladistics are scattered - at least those I know of
worth reading for intro. I would suggest the MacClade Manual
(Sinauer - Wayne P. and David R. Maddison, don;t know ISBN)
Then there is Wiley, E.O., D. Siegel-Causey, D.R. Brooks and
V.A. Funk (Ms. Funkadelic - here at NMNH). 1991. The Compleat
Cladist: A Primer of Phylogenetic Procedures. U. Kansas Museum
Natural History Special Publication #19. The Paup Manual also
has some good intro stuff (Swofford & Begle, 1993) - put out by
OH MY GOD - the Smithsonian Institution (Lab. Molecular Systematics)
and Illinois Natural History Survey. Buena suerte.
I have generally thought of Gondwanaland as a Paleozoic unit,
especially the later Paleozoic (post Silurian) and Laurasia as
a Mesozoic unit since Gondwanaland was more proactive about breaking
up after the congregating of Pangaea. Another interesting tale of
plate tectonics is the closing of the proto-Atlantic ocean Iapetus
which had North American and Europe equivalents in it as well as a
smaller unit called Avalonia. When it closed, everything sutured
together. When it re-split, parts of Avalonia went both to NA and
Europe, parts of old Europe stuck onto NA and parts of NA went to
Europe. this explains the Cambrian trilobite distributions with the
odd Paradoxides trilobite fauna showing up in various parts of eastern
NA including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Massachusettes, RI and even,
I believe, down to the Carolinas. It explains why you also get classic
NA Lower Cambrian trilos in Scotland (Olenellus zone stuff). In
Newfoundland you can actually walk from NA Cambrian archaeocyathid
reefs across the suture zone into Avalonia and collect a different
suite of Cambrian trilos (it's a long hike, admittedly).
No one Geology and Paleontology aren't fun. Ralph Chapman, NMNH