Robert l carroll biography of michaels

About this book

For nearly million years amphibians and their ancestors dominated the terrestrial and shallow water environments of the earth. Archaic animals with an amphibious way of life gave rise not only to modern frogs, salamanders, and caecilians but also to the ancestors of reptiles, birds, and mammals.

In this landmark publication, one of the leading paleontologists of our time explores a pivotal moment of vertebrate evolution, the rise of amphibians.

Synthesizing findings from the rich and highly diverse fossil record of amphibians, Robert Carroll traces their origin back million years, when particular species of fish traveled down an evolutionary pathway of fin modification that gave rise to legs.

Robert L. Carroll facts for kids - Kids encyclopedia

This period of dramatic radiation was followed by a cataclysmic extinction million years ago. After a long gap, modern amphibian groups gradually emerged. Now the number of amphibian species and individuals throughout t