Cambrian and beyond

Cambrian run down

All major phyla appeared in the seas. Trilobites, nautiloids, brachiopods, eurypterids (sea scorpions), wormy armored animals

Ordovician run down

Algae, invertebrates (sponges corals, snails, clams, cephalopods), first vertebrates: ostracoderms ie jawless fish. First land life: primitive plants- liverworts

Silurian run down

Vascular plants and terrestrial animals: scorpions both came to be along with fungi and jawed and freshwater fish

Devonian run down

Cartilaginous fish, bony fish: ray finned and freshwater lobe finned. Corals, crinoids. Plants: ferns, horsetails, gymnosperms. Terrestrial invertebrates: scorpions, millipedes

Carboniferous run down

Amphibions flourish. Reptiles with hard eggs split off. Large swamp plants are numerous and die to form coal beds. Bugs: grasshoppers, crickets, giant dragonflies. Land snails. Fish and sharks look pretty modern. Protists, broazoans, brachiopods. Trilobites dying out

Permian run down

Gymnosperms are prominent. Reptiles with amniote egg that could fully develop in land. Cotylosaurs (dino ancestor), pelycasours.

Triassic run down

Archosaurs (LUCA of dinos), therapsids (LUCA of mammals), forests of cyads, ginkos, conifers.

Jurassic run down

Ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, ammonites, fish. Apatosayrs, stegosaurs, allosaurs. Pterosaurs and early bird protoarcheapteryx and archeapteryx flew. Angiosperms diversified. Forests of ferns, conifers, ginkos, club mosses, horsetails. Frogs and true mammals appeared.

Cretaceous run down

Angiosperms diversify, modern insects, marine reptiles, mollusks, fish, birds, pterosaurs. Maiasaurs traveled in groups in Montana. Apatesaurs travelled in herds across Europe, Asia, to Arctic and Alberta. T. Rex in north America, widespread triceratops.

Paleogene run down

15 of 18 placental mammal orders arose. Marsupials and monotremes still around. Wet and warm. Tectonic shifts led to mountains. Green River form shows bats, mammals, insects, sycamores, ferns, cattails, crocs, snails, snakes, birds. Primates arose 60 mya.

Neogene run down

Continents look like current. Last common great ape ancestor split 12 mya, and hominin branch split 6-7 mya.

Quaternary run down

Pleistocene is most of it. Ice ages with glaciers covering 30% of surface. Willy mammoths, mastadons, giant ground sloths, smiladons all driven extinct.

Cambrian time

542-490 mya

Ordovician time

490-443 mya

Silurian time

443-417 mya

Devonian time

427-354 mya

Carboniferous time

354-290 mya

Permian time

290 - 248 mya

Triassic time

248-206 mya

Jurassic time

206-144 mya

Cretaceous time

144-65 mya

Paleogene time

65-23 mya

Neogene time

23-2.58 mya

Quaternary time

2.58 mya - now

First mass extinction

Ordovician - Silurian: Gondwana drifted South and chilled

Second mass extinction

Devonian - Carboniferous: warm-water invertebrates and jawless fish die

Third mass extinction

Permian - Triassic: Great Dying. Sea level dropped, sulfur abounded, volcanoes erupted, temps were high, seas rose again. 90% of shallow sea species, including trilobites, and also bugs, reptiles, amphibians all died. Pangea split.

Fourth mass extinction

Triassic - Jurassic: allowed dino takeover and mammal diversification *adaptive radiation*

Fifth mass extinction

Cretaceous - Paleogene: 10km diameter iridiumy meteorite struck Yucatan peninsula. Photosynthesis halted for 3 years. All non avian dinos, icthyasours, pleisiosaurs, mososaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites, many foraminferns, sea urchins, bony fish died. 75% of species.

Age of Fishes

Devonian

Age of Amphibians

Carboniferous

Age of Reptiles

Mesozoic

Age of Mammals

Cenozoic