"The Development of the Earth" series (rare? mid 1990's book series)

[Faelrin]

This post was previously titled "Need help finding an older prehistory book series (found it!)"

I don't have much background information of this book series, other then that this series appears to have originally been published in Spanish in 1995 by Ediciones Este, S, A. (Barcelona, Spain), and then eventually translated into English in 1996, by Chelsea House Publishers. The English title of the series is "The Development of the Earth", and the original Spanish title for the series was "Las edades de la Tierra". The author of the books is credited as Andreu Llamas, and the illustrator is credited as Luis Rizo. There is a total of six books to my knowledge, spanning from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic, typically focusing on a particular type of lineage of vertebrate. Each book typically also has a section at the end of the books, exploring the evolution of particular animals, as well as a section explaining how things fossilized. If I had to guess it might be best to take those evolution sections with a grain of salt, as evolution isn't particularly linear as it seemingly depicts (but perhaps one could look at it in a different way, such as merely the chronological order when those animals lived), but nonetheless it does introduce a lot of creatures that are otherwise pretty obscure to the reader. The illustrations of the animals also seem pretty lively, and also feature some fantastic landscape art within, depicting various scenery of Earth's earlier times.

As far as I'm aware the English copies of these books are only provided in hard cover format, and may have only been provided to libraries (as I've yet to encounter a copy that wasn't an ex-library book yet), and not sold elsewhere. I'm not sure how common these books actually are as I've only seen a few copies of them go for sale at times, and because some of the information within is now dated, I'm not sure how desirable these may be to anyone (beyond someone like me, where there is at least some nostalgia from reading them growing up, aside from finding the style of illustrations, and numerous obscure taxa included charming). Additionally since the English version is actually a translation, I'm not sure how many copies of these actually exist out there. I also wonder how many copies are even out there for the original Spanish versions.

I had the pleasure of reading this series of books when I was 11 years old back in late 2002/early 2003, at my school's library. It was the first time I had really learned what lived before the dinosaurs, beyond Dimetrodon that I was pretty familiar with that at that point with it having been featured in those cheap dinosaur bucket sets I had played with plenty of times in the 90's. These books (BBC's Walking with Monsters aside) really owe it to introducing me to many of the wondrous life forms that once inhabited Earth during the long gone Paleozoic era, if not those that would follow.

I have acquired (what I assume) is the first in the series, "Life Starts in the Sea", or the original Spanish title of "La vida empieza en el mar", back in 2016. Just yesterday I have acquired (what I assume to be) the second book called the "The First Amphibians" or the original Spanish title of "Los Primeros Anfibios". I have decided to modify this thread to serve as reviews for these books. It is definitely worth mentioning that because of their age certain things have sense become out of date (assuming they were correct for the time being). However many of the reconstructions and information has also surprisingly held up as well. Additionally I will also provide a full list of species mentioned within the books, and providing any links to figures that may exist of those species, as many of them are quite obscure, but still some do have figures nonetheless.

The other books in the series includes "Birds Conquer the Skies" (original Spanish title "Las Aves Conquistan El Aire"), "The Era of the Dinosaurs" (original Spanish title "La Era De Los Dinosaurios"), "The Great Marine Reptiles" (original Spanish title "Los Reptiles Primitivos"), and "Mammals Dominate the Earth" (original Spanish title "Los Mamiferos Dominan La Tierra"). As I do not have these other books yet, I cannot verify if these Spanish Titles are accurate, as I managed to pull them from Amazon after a quick search of the author.

Also worth noting, but perhaps relatively minor, but there are a few grammatical (such as uncapitalized genus names much of the time) and spelling errors in these books.

Some cover images (pulled from listings on website Alibris) of the English editions (except the dinosaur one is pulled from a website called World Cat):

 

and the original Spanish versions (except the dinosaur one, which was pulled from website Good Reads):

 


Anyways, analysis, and reviews of the books I currently own, list of genus featured in the books, list of figures of the genus featured in the books, images, etc below:

"Life Starts in the Sea":

Spoiler

The book starts off with explaining the formation of the earth 4.5 billion years ago, and then eventually proceeds to explain the evolution and arrival of single celled organisms, which eventually gave rise to multicellular animals, and giving some examples. It eventually delves into the evolution of fish, featuring the jawless "ostracoderms" (the term is no longer used in phylogenetics, but could still be helpful in an informal way to group these early jawless fishes together), and placoderms, and even sharks a bit. There is also some information provided about eurypterids, otherwise known as sea scorpions, and nautiloids. and trilobites that lived alongside those early fish in those ages long past. The evolution sections focus on the stingray (called mantle in the book), and the swordfish, and the fossil section explains how soft bodied animals, and animals like Dunkleosteus had their armor preserved.

There are a few issues, which I point out below (such as of a few as of now outdated depictions, and some species depicted together that were not from the same period, but otherwise I think it the bulk of it has largely held up to this day, particularly most of the illustrated reconstructions of the animals within (with the limited research I've done anyways, and from what is readily available to me). It is not written entirely in chronological order of the periods however, which may be bothersome to some, but I think it gets the point down for how old this book is in showcasing some of these ancient animals.

Some images of the book:









Genus mentioned within the book:

-Cyanobacteria/Cyanophyton algae (unspecified)
-Cyanoflagellate (might actually be Choanoflagellate? unspecified)
-Protozoa (unspecified flagellate)
-Volvox (anachronistic)
-Sponge (unspecified)
-Worms (unspecified)
-Primitive Jellyfish (unspecified)
-Dickinsonia (illustrated but not specified)
-Spriggina (illustrated but not specified)
-Doryaspis
-Pharyngolepis (being preyed upon an unspecified eurypterid, probably Pterygotus though missing the paddle like appendages)
-Drepanaspis (anachronistic with Pharyngolepis, but maybe not with Pterygotus, or whatever that particular eurypterid might be)
-Boreaspis
-Hemicyclaspis
-Jamoytius (reconstruction is a little bit outdated now)
-Thelodus
-Hybodus (chasing an unspecified fish, depicted a little too much like a great white shark however)
-Dinichthys (pictured with a Dunkleosteus like skull)
-Groenlandaspis (incorrectly spelled as Greenlandaspis)
-Coccosteus
-Bothriolepis
-Straight shelled nautiloid (illustrated but not specified)
-Curled shelled nautiloid (illustrated but not specified)
-Trilobite (illustrated but not specified)
-Pterygotus (mentioned but not illustrated, though incorrect size estimate of 8 feet was given for it)
-Mixopterus (or something similar in appearance, though not specified. Missing spines on the first pair of appendages, and missing the paddle like appendages as well)
-Dunkleosteus (depicted with Hybodus, which was anachronistic, having been from the Permian and later. Also depicted with an outdated Coccosteus like tail)
-Arandaspis
-Cladoselache
-Tristychius
-Spathobathis
-Scapanorhynchus
-Sclerorhynchus
-Mantle (unspecified stingray)
-Climatius
-Cheirolepis
-Palaeoniscum (misspelled as Plaeoniscum)
-Aspidorhynchus
-Hypsocormus
-Berycopis (google didn't pull up anything, so I'm not sure what this actually is)
-Swordfish (unspecified, but probably depicts Xiphias gladius)
-Sidneyia (or something like it, depicted as a fossil)

Genus mentioned within the book that have figures (and the companies that made them):

-Arandaspis (Yowie)
-Bothriolepis (Kaiyodo, Paleozoo)
-Cladoselache (Kaiyodo, and Safari Ltd)
-Climatius (there is at least this one by an unknown Hong Kong based company: https://toyanimal.info/wiki/Unknown_Hong_Kong_Climatius)
-Dickinsonia (Yowie, Paleozoo)
-Drepanaspis (Starlux)
-Dunkleosteus (Kaiyodo, COG Ltd, Safari Ltd, Favorite, Schleich, Colorata, CollectA, Paleozoo, Mojo)
-Groenlandaspis (Yowie, COG Ltd, Paleozoo)
-Hemicyclaspis (Kaiyodo)
-Hybodus (Safari Ltd)
-Mixopterus (Safari Ltd)
-Pterygotus (Kaiyodo)
-Scapanorhynchus (Safari Ltd)
-Sidneyia (Safari Ltd)
-Spriggina (Paleozoo)

[close]

"The First Amphibians":

Spoiler

So this one starts off by explaining about the earliest land plants such as Cooksonia during the Silurian period, and how the spread of plants (aquatic and terrestrial) helped give rise to conditions that would allow animals to eventually live on land. It also describes invertebrates as being the first to thrive on land (such as spiders and cockroaches, or their earliest relatives which didn't appear until the Devonian or Carboniferous periods at the earliest. Additionally it mentions cockroaches that could reach an estimate of 8 inches, but my limited searching has pulled up nothing of the sort), and also describes giant invertebrates such as Arthlopleura (which is depicted as a giant centipede here, although a herbivorous one, although that has long been outdated, but might have been within the realm of possibility at the time this was written. Also from the Carboniferous period and not the Silurian), and a giant land scorpion that was 10 feet long (though that's probably incorrect as Jaekelopterus is the largest arthropod discovered thus far and only comes close to that size estimate). Eventually it describes lobe finned fish (otherwise called sarcopterigs within the book, though the correct term is sarcopterygians), and how their fins worked, and how similar they were to later derived tetrapods like our species. They also explain the conditions during the Devonian period that helped give rise to animals that are either directly ancestral, or possibly related in some manner like Eusthenopteron, due to some of their similar characteristics. They also focus on Ichthyostega as one of the earliest amphibians, and its anatomy, and its locomotion (which was depicted as salamander like, although now it is suggested it would have moved more like a seal if on land), before moving on to explain about how early amphibians diversified in the Carboniferous period, and the many shapes and lifestyles they had. It also describes the glacial period in the Carboniferous and the drought like conditions during the Permian period, and how these conditions led to many amphibians going extinct. There is also a section of the book dedicated to giant amphibians. The evolution section of the book focuses on the salamander and frog. The end of the book focuses on what fossils can tell us about prehistoric climates, as well as the discovery of the Coelacanth Latimeria.

Perhaps worth mentioning that the discovery of Tiktaalik was nearly a decade too late for this book (though surprisingly Acanthostega is nowhere to be mentioned), which only helps to solidify the relationship of sarcopterygians with their descendants, the tetrapodomorphs, which this book was largely about as is.

Some images of the book:









Genus mentioned within the book:

-Cooksonia
-Cockroach (unspecified, though mentions it could grows as large as 8 inches)
-Spider (unspecified)
-Meganeura (described, but not specified or illustrated)
-Arthropleura (outdated portrayed as a giant centipede, though a herbivorous one)
-Giant scorpion (unspecified, though with size estimate of 10 feet long, which is problematic as the largest arthropod known currently is Jaekelopterus, and the current size estimates push it slightly below that)
-Sarcopterygian (unspecified)
-Eusthenopteron (initially unspecified, until later in the book's evolution of the salamander section)
-Dipnoi (incorrectly spelled as Dipnoo)
-Ichthyostega (with one depicted chasing an unspecified eel-like fish)
-Eryops (unspecified until later in the book's evolution of the frog section)
-Microbrachis (unspecified until later in the book's evolution of the salamander section)
-Unspecified salamander and caecilian like animals
-Platyhystrix
-Diadectes (depicted as if it experienced the Carboniferous glacial period, with an unspecified salamander like animal, which is anachronistic, as it lived during the early Permian)
-Diplocaulus
-Eogyrinus (depicted chasing an unspecified fish, and which may be the same animal as Pholiderpeton, in which the name Pholiderpeton takes priority, having been used first)
-Japanese giant salamander (unspecified but likely Andrias japonicus)
-Paracyclotosaurus
-Pantylus
-Karaurus
-Salamander (unspecified but likely depicts the fire salamander, or Salamandra salamandra)
-Greererpeton
-Cacops
-Triadobatrachus
-Vieraella
-Palaeobatrachus (mispelled as Paleobatrachus)
-Frog (unspecified but likely depicts the American bullfrog, or Lithobates catesbeianus)
-Cordaites (depicted as a fossil)
-Latimeria
-Macropoma

Genus mentioned within the book that have figures (and the companies that made them):

-Arthropleura (Innovative Kids, Paleo-Creatures)
-Diplocaulus (Starlux, Imperial, Play Visions, Kaiyodo)
-Eogyrinus (Play Visions)
-Eryops (Play Visions has one that looks very similar to the one in depicted in this book, and Kaiyodo and Paleozoo has made some as well)
-Eusthenopteron (Starlux, Kaiyodo)
-Ichthyostega (Starlux, COG Ltd, Sega NHK?, Kaiyodo)
-Meganeura (Kaiyodo)
-Platyhystrix (Play Visions has made one that looks very similar to the one depicted in this book)
-Triadobatrachus (Play Visions has made one that looks very similar to the one depicted in this book)

[close]

Original post below that details my search for this series and eventually finding it:

Spoiler

Title says some of it anyways. My renewed interest in Dunkleosteus and other non dinosaur creatures has been reminding me of a book series that I first read at my school library when I was 11 or so. It was the first real time I learned about the formation of the earth and other periods of life before the Mesozoic, and other creatures aside from dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and Dimetrodon, Smilodon, and woolly mammoths. I also recall learning about evolution and the first time I had heard of Hallucigenia before (if I'm remembering right). Anyways, the books have lots of art (in color paintings) about the different stages of life, and if I recall right, each book was about the evolution of fish, plants, tetrapods, reptiles, birds, etc. I know at the ends of the books it would show different creatures from today, explaining which evolutionary lineages have survived all the extinctions so far (until now), like frogs at the end of the tetrapod book. I'm sure this series of books is really outdated now, but it was the first book series I've read that really sparked my interest in prehistoric life and evolution. I think it was intended to be a children's science book series, as well. Any help in tracking down this series would be greatly appreciated, of course.

Edit: This is the cover of one of the books here: https://www.amazon.com/Primeros-Anfibios-Edades-Tierra-Spanish/dp/0791040313, although this is a Spanish version and I read the English version.

[close]

[Faelrin]

I hope a second post is okay, for what I'm about to post. I did some more googling and finally came across what the series is called, and actually found images of all the books' covers in English. The series is called "The Development of the Earth". Clearly children's books, since they are rather on the short side, and filled with illustrations (aside from the nostalgia, the art-style still impresses me to this day). I did more research on the titles to see how much they were going for, and by luck I guess, I managed to find a local bookstore selling one of them (Life Starts in the Sea). It was sold as used and in very good condition, but I swear, they could have sold it brand new and I wouldn't have noticed any difference. Image of book's cover here: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRyPYL9ynyvK8ZtNOzc1e3MqJk_Xxqp8AKnxZrMbNczBSnrc_5A

I can try to take a pic or two of some of the pages, in case any one is interested. I do want to at least share the one illustration that I've managed to remember for years on end because it made such a lasting impression on me. Then again, this was also the first series of books I learned about evolution and the formation of Earth from. I also have no idea how accurate anything was for the time, or if anything has become outdated from recent discoveries, but I'll have to read and do some research to find out. I did notice the Dunkleosteus in the book does have the inferred tail from Coccosteus, though most reconstructions of Dunkleosteus do the same. Here's an illustration of one of the creatures though: http://www.rareresource.com/images/dinosaurs/JawlessFishes/Arandaspis.png

However I think I may be mis-remembering as Hallugenia was not in the book I got. It may be in another title in the series, or it may have been from another book I read around the time. Guess I'll need to get the other books to find out for sure. It has been over a decade since I've read them after all.

[Halichoeres]

Glad you found it! Those illustrations look like the same ones from this book and several others like it. https://smile.amazon.com/Firefly-Encyclopedia-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-Animals/dp/1770854606/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1474558154&sr=8-15&keywords=encyclopedia+dinosaurs

[Faelrin]

Are they? I haven't read that book before, but it sounds interesting. I'm hoping to pick up a copy of the amphibians/tetrapod book (The First Amphibians) from this series soon if I can, as that's the other one in the series I still remember pretty well to this day, and I should try to take a pic of the image I was talking about tomorrow from the one I just got. I still remember an image from the amphibian book of a cockroach and centipede, represented as early land creatures or some such, and it also mentioned Cooksonia and Ichthyostega. Sadly I don't really remember much from the other books in the series, though I did recognize their covers when I found them again, since I did read them all those years ago. I'll have to try to get them again as well if I can, but for now I'll move on to the amphibians one.

[Halichoeres]

Unless I'm very much mistaken. Here's a couple pages from the edition I have, do any of these illustrations look familiar?

[Faelrin]

That Ichthyostega does look familiar, at the very least, as does the style of the others with the shine on them (the whitish areas). I'll have to get the book I'm thinking of to be sure, but it probably is the same. I hope I can remember to take those pics from the book I currently have tomorrow, since I forgot too (of the earth forming picture, the purple nautiloid, and of the evolutionary path section which has the Arandaspis image that I linked too earlier). Also the link I posted earlier of the Spanish version of the amphibian book, has the same illustrations and cover design as the English version (aside from the names of course). Here's an image of the Drepanaspis from the same book as the Arandaspis: http://www.rareresource.com/images/dinosaurs/JawlessFishes/Drepanaspis.png

Here's the title in the series I recently bought on google books: https://books.google.com/books?id=ROxQGwAACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions
Here's some of the other books in the series: https://books.google.com/books?id=ROxQGwAACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions
https://books.google.com/books/about/Mammals_Dominate_the_Earth.html?id=9o2jGAAACAAJ&source=kp_cover

I hope this helps in case any one else is interested, or in case anyone else remembers these books (or illustrations if they are indeed used elsewhere). Again I'll try to take those pics and I'll post them here to share with once I do.

Edit: Here's the images I took pictures of:

[Faelrin]

Well it's been a few years since I last posted anything here. I've finally got a new phone/camera so I'll certainly be updating the images in my previous reply.

Anyways, after many years of patience and/or putting it off, I finally have another one of the books in this series, that I haven't read since I was at least 11 or 12 maybe. I only paid like $0.05 for it and about $7 or so for shipping, which was extremely cheap. It was also a library copy previously, but it is in good shape for its age.

Anyways here is the book:



There's a few more pics, and a quick comparison with some of the critters here illustrated with the Play Visions Prehistoric Amphibians figures, in my reply here: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7102.msg251831#msg251831


I'll be working on revising the top post, and will be including more information (including a complete list of species featured in the books, as well as sharing how many of those species have figures now) on at least the two books in the series I own now, as well as some reviews on them (including on what has held up and what hasn't because of new discoveries, etc. The most obviously for this book is missing out on Tiktaalik's discovery by nearly a decade later) and more images. Hopefully I'll have this done by later tonight, if not tomorrow.

Edit: Pictures coming tomorrow, but original post has been edited, with massive loads of information of the two books in this series I currently own, and some information about the others I have yet to obtain.

[Faelrin]

After all these years I finally got my hands on a complete set of Play Visions Prehistoric Amphibians figures.

The second book in the series I have here was originally published in Spain in 1995, and translated into English in 1996. See the first post in the thread, or bottom pic of this post for more info. The Play Visions set didn't release until afterwards, around 1998 approximately. I originally read this book in the early 2000's when I was 11 or 12. Three of the Play Visions figures seem to have had their designs derived from the illustrations in this book. Namely the Eryops, Platyhystrix, and Triadobatrachus. Included are comparison pics with the figures and illustrations as well as a pic of the publishing info. There was also Diplocaulus in the book, but the figure is slightly different in design.









Publishing info for proof the illustrations came first:

[Halichoeres]

The encyclopedia I have with the same illustrations features the source for all 8 amphibians! Congrats on getting those, by the way.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres Which book is that by the way? That's interesting to know there's more out there that the rest of the set where based on. 

[Halichoeres]

@Halichoeres Which book is that by the way? That's interesting to know there's more out there that the rest of the set where based on.

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures by Barry Cox et al. It's been in print in some form for decades with no updates to the artwork that I'm aware of. The title and cover have changed several times, though. The current one hilariously bears the image of Papo's running rex on the cover: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-illustrated-dinosaur-encyclopedia-a-visual-who-s-who-of-prehistoric-life-barry-cox/13133268