on moist environments for reproduction: waterborne spores were replaced by seeds in plants of seed-fern origin, and shell-less eggs were replaced byamnioteeggs with protective shells in animals of reptilian origin. Flight was first achieved also during the Carboniferous Period as insects evolved ...
but the rest of the planet was ocean. By the last period of the Paleozoic, the Permian, Euramerica and Gondwana became one, forming perhaps the most famous supercontinent of them all:Pangaea. The giant ocean surrounding Pangaea was
Giant InsectsIt is this high oxygen content that is believed to be the cause of the gigantic arthropods that lived in these forests. A dragonfly called Meganeura had a wingspan 70 cm! The centipede like Arthropleura could reach a length of 1.8 meters and giant scorpions grew over 50 cm ...
Carpenter and I pointed out that “most of the existing orders of insects had already been developed by the end of the Paleozoic era. It was during the most recent part of the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era (about 175 million years ago) that the first termites are known to have ...
Only one family dominates the top predator role, thegorgonopsians, making up nearly all the specimens known (C inFig. 2). Large gorgonopsids were present but very rare in the precedingTapinocephalusZone (Dinocephalianempire). The medium-size hipposaurids, also present in theTapinocephalusZone...