The Neurobiology of Australian Marsupials
Brain Evolution in the Other Mammalian Radiation

A comprehensive and authoritative review of the current scientific knowledge of how evolution has shaped the brains of Australian marsupials.

Ken Ashwell (Edited by)

9780521519458, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 October 2010

366 pages, 187 b/w illus. 11 tables
28.2 x 22.5 x 2.7 cm, 1.56 kg

'… rigorously organized …this volume provides a comprehensive review of the scientific literature on the structure and function of the nervous system of Australian marsupials … as well as a useful glossary. A recommendable book.' Mammalia

Australian marsupials represent a parallel adaptive radiation to that seen among placental mammals. This great natural experiment has produced a striking array of mammals with structural and behavioural features echoing those seen among primates, rodents, carnivores, edentates and ungulates elsewhere in the world. Many of these adaptations involve profound evolutionary changes in the nervous system, and occurred in isolation from those unfolding among placental mammals. Ashwell provides the first comprehensive review of the scientific literature on the structure and function of the nervous system of Australian marsupials. The book also includes the first comprehensive delineated atlases of brain structure in a representative diprotodont marsupial (the tammar wallaby) and a representative polyprotodont marsupial (the stripe-faced dunnart). For those interested in brain development, the book also provides the first comprehensive delineated atlas of brain development in a diprotodont marsupial (the tammar wallaby) during the critical first 4 weeks of pouch life.

1. Classification, evolution and behavioural ecology of Australian marsupials K. Ashwell
2. Overview of marsupial brain organization and evolution K. Ashwell
3. Development and sexual dimorphism K. Ashwell
4. Ventral hindbrain and midbrain K. Ashwell
5. Cerebellum, vestibular and precerebellar nuclei K. Ashwell
6. Diencephalon and associated structures K. Ashwell
7. Deep telencephalic structures K. Ashwell
8. Cerebral cortex and claustrum/endopiriform complex K. Ashwell
9. Visual system L. D. Beazley, C. Arrese and D. M. Hunt
10. Somatosensory system L. Marotte, C. Leamey and P. Waite
11. Auditory system L. Aitkin and R. K. Shepherd
12. Olfactory system K. Ashwell
13. Motor system and spinal cord K. Ashwell
14. Australian marsupials as models of brain development L. Marotte, P. Waite and C. Leamey
15. Australian marsupials as models of ageing and disease B. McAllan and S. J. Richardson
16. Atlas of the brain of the stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) K. Ashwell, B. McAllan and J. K. Mai
17. Stereotaxic atlas of the brain of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) K. Ashwell and L. Marotte
18. Atlas of the brain of the developing tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) K. Ashwell, L. Marotte and J. K. Mai.

Subject Areas: Zoology: Mammals [PSVW7], Neurosciences [PSAN], Physiology [MFG]