''Vertebrate Palaeontology'' is a complete, up-to-date history of the evolution of vertebrates. The third edition of this popular text has been extensively revised to incorporate the latest research, including new material from North and South America, Australia, Europe, China, Africa and Russia. This work: highlights astonishing new discoveries including new dinosaurs and Mesozoic birds from China; features a new chapter on how to study fossil vertebrates; provides an increased emphasis on the cladistic framework with cladograms set apart from the body of the text and full lists of diagnostic characters; and, includes new molecular evidence on early mammal diversification. New features aid study including new functional and developmental feature spreads, key questions and extensive references to useful web sites. It offers a strong phylogenetic focus making it an up-to-date source of the latest broad-scale systematic data on vertebrate evolution.