Evolution of the Vertebrate Skull describes the evolution of the vertebrate cranium during transition from invertebrates to vertebrates from multidisciplinary perspectives (e.g., morphology, developmental biology, paleontology, genome biology). The prologue highlights the masterful work of Gavin de Beer as the historical foundation of the current synthesis on the evolutionary morphology of the skull. Study of the vertebrate head persistently reveals mysteries that still remain to be addressed and these problems are a focus of this volume. Recognition of such conundrum is important since the study of the vertebrate cranial evolution has such a long history from comparative osteology to the more recent developmental studies of vertebrate head segmentation. The editors aim to revive the vertebrate head problem through re-organizing the structure of issue and integrating current major streams of the fields such as regenerative medicine or functional genomics.
