Ancient Fishes and their Living Relatives

When we announced the preparation of this volume, we quickly received inquiries from around the world. Colleagues, collaborators, friends, and former students, working on topics ranging from the analytical estimation of evolutionary trees, to Brazilian paleobiogeography, and from the inference of anatomical modules to the descriptive anatomy and development of chondrichthyans, holocephalans, and bony fishes offered to contribute. This worldwide response from so diverse a range of colleagues is a testament not only to John's esteem in the paleoichthyology community but also to the breadth of his knowledge base and his own history of helping those sharing these broad interests. Although the major research focus of John's career has been the discovery and description of Paleozoic chondrichthyans, John believed in the necessity of studying Recent taxa to better inform the description of fossils, and many of his studies of Recent taxa, especially the broadnose sevengill shark Notorynchus, are now considered classic works in chondrichthyan paleontology. His holistic thinking has populated the academic literature, often in ways quietly predating the primary works on the subjects. John's academic training and influences, as well as his interests, are presented more extensively in a chapter of this volume.The diversity of the topics represented here reflects the spectacular evolution of the field of paleontology during the last quarter-century. These advances are largely technical, resting on new means of observation and data analysis. Paleontology's shift toward digitization of fossils using X-ray tomographic methods has made many previously inaccessible specimens amenable to description. John was among the earliest adopters of tomographic methods in paleontology, and several chapters of this volume present descriptions of specimens derived from two varieties of tomographic information: axial computed tomography (µCT), and synchrotron microtomography (SRµCT). This influx of

Alan Pradel, John S. S. Denton and Philippe Janvier: Preface by the editors. p. 7IntroductionMaria da Gloria P. de Carvalho: John G. Maisey - a Biographical Sketch. p. 9Analysis and methodologyGloria Arratia, Hans-Peter Schultze, Soledad Gouiric-Cavalli and Claudio Quezada-Romegialli: The intriguing Atacamichthys fish from the Middle Jurassic of Chile - an amiiform or a teleosteomorph?. p. 19Jose Xavier-Neto and Ismar de Souza Carvalho: Paleontological treasures among commonplace fossils: a paradigm to study evolutionary innovation. p. 37John S. S. Denton and Eric W. Goolsby: Influence analysis of fossil chondrichthyan taxa. p. 49Kevin K. Duclos, Terry C. Grande and Richard Cloutier: Modularity of the Weberian apparatus in the zebrafish using micro-CT technology and 3-D geometric morphometrics. p. 59Juan Liu: You are how you look: potential utility of quantitative body shape analysis in classification of Eocene cypriniforms. p. 71Descriptive Anatomy and DevelopmentCarole J. Burrow and Jan L. den Blaauwen: Endoskeletal tissues of acanthodians (stem Chondrichthyes). p. 81Allison W. Bronson: A three-dimensionally preserved stethacanthid cranium and endocast from the Late Mississippian Fayetteville Shale (Arkansas, USA). p. 93Friedrich H. Pfeil: The new family Mesiteiidae (Chondrichthyes, Orectolobiformes), based on Mesiteia emiliae Kramberger, 1884. A contribution to the Upper Cretaceous (early Cenomanian) shark fauna from Lebanon. p. 101Alan Pradel, Richard P. Dearden , Antoine Cuckovic, Rohan Mansuit and Philippe Janvier: The visceral skeleton and its relation to the head circulatory system of both a fossil, the Carboniferous Iniopera, and a modern, Callorhinchus milii holocephalan (Chondrichthyes). p. 183Michael I. Coates, Kristen Tietjen, Zerina Johanson, Matt Friedman and Stephanie Sang: The cranium of Helodus simplex (Agassiz, 1838) revised. p. 193Zerina Johanson, Charlie Underwood, Michael I. Coates, Vincent Fernandez, Brett Clark and Moya M. Smith: The