This book is a comprehensive, chronologically ordered review of China's vertebrate fossil record. It also presents a history of vertebrate paleontological studies in China and an entrée to some important issues of systematics, evolutionary history, paleoecology, taphonomy, and functional anatomy best elucidated by China's fossils.

Praise for the first edition "A gift to serious dinosaur enthusiasts" --Science "The amount of information in these] pages is amazing. This book should be on the shelves of dinosaur freaks as well as those who need to know more about the paleobiology of extinct animals. It will be an invaluable library reference." --American Reference Books Annual "An excellent encyclopedia that serves as a nice bridge between popular and scholarly dinosaur literature." --Library Journal (starred review) "Copiously illustrated and scrupulously up-to-date... the book reveals dinos through the fractious fields that make a study of them." --Publishers Weekly "Stimulating armchair company for cold winter evenings.... Best of all, the book treats dinosaurs as intellectual fun." --New Scientist "The book is useful both as a reference and as a browse-and-enjoy compendium." --Natural History What do we know about dinosaurs, and how do we know it? How did dinosaurs grow, move, eat, and reproduce? Were they warm-blooded or cold-blooded? How intelligent were they? How are the various groups of dinosaurs related to each other, and to other kinds of living and extinct vertebrates? What can the study of dinosaurs tell us about the process of evolution? And why did typical dinosaurs become extinct? All of these questions, and more, are addressed in the new, expanded, second edition of The Complete Dinosaur. Written by many of the world's leading experts on the "fearfully great" reptiles, the book's 45 chapters cover what we have learned about dinosaurs, from the earliest discoveries of dinosaurs to the most recent controversies. Where scientific contention exists, the editors have let the experts agree to disagree. Copiously illustrated and accessible to all readers from the enthusiastic amateur to the most learned professional paleontologist, The Complete Dinosaur is a feast for serious dinosaur lovers everywhere.

This volume focuses on small mammal fossils from extinct Asian faunas of about 1 to 7 million years ago in North China. These played a role in the emergence of vertebrate paleontology as a modern science in that country. This second volume of the sub-series Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals in the Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology book series deals with a rich microfauna fossil record; megafauna follow in subsequent volumes. This research on Yushe Basin fossils provides a view of changes in northeast Asian terrestrial faunas during the Late Neogene, and therefore is a key to the biochronology for a vast part of the continent. The faunas recovered by the multinational team working in this region represent changes in small mammal communities of the Yushe Basin, revealed on a finer time scale that has not been achieved previously. Detailed systematic studies on small mammal groups proceeded under the care of specialists are outlined in the chapters of this volume. Paleontologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists will find this book appealing.