This expanded and updated second edition offers a comprehensive look at macroevolution. From a Neodarwinian viewpoint, it integrates evolutionary processes at all levels to explain animal diversity. It examines topics including genetics and speciation, development and evolution, the constructional and functional aspects of form, fossil lineages, systematics, and the Cambrian explosion.

This expanded and updated second edition offers a comprehensive look at macroevolution and its underpinnings, with a primary emphasis on animal evolution. From a Neodarwinian point of view, the book integrates evolutionary processes at all levels to explain the diversity of animal life. It examines a wide range of topics including genetics, speciation, development, evolution, constructional and functional aspects of form, fossil lineages, and systematics, and --in a major new chapter--takes a hard look at the Cambrian explosion. The author delves into the age of molecular science and integrates important recent contributions made to our understanding of evolution.