Preliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introductioin
I. Discovery
1. The Discovery of the Dromornithids
II. Systematics and Morphology
2. Mihirungs: Extinct, Gigantic Australian Geese
3. Classification
4. Overview of Dromornithid Species, Localities, and Associated Fauna
5. Description of Dromornithid Structure
6. Relationships and Phylogeny
7. Dromornithids and the Origin of Anseriform Birds
8. Relationships within the Dromornithidae
III. Paleobiology
9. Appearance, Posture, and Stature
10. Body Mass Estimations
11. Could Dromornithids Run?
12. The Feeding Apparatus
13. The Economy of Scale
IV. Paleoecology
14. Evidence from Local Faunas
15. Habitat and Diet
16. Evolution
Conclusion
Appendix: Basic Avian Skeletal Morphology
Glossary
References
Index

Promotional Information

Whitley Medal 2004Lanzendorf Paleoart Award 2004

About the Author

Peter F. Murray is a researcher at the Museum of Central Australia in Alice Springs.

Patricia Vickers-Rich holds a Chair in Palaeontology at Monash University, where she lectures in the Earth Sciences Department. She is co-author (with Thomas H. Rich) of Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (IUP, 2000) and Dinosaurs of Darkness (IUP, 2000).