|
Phanerozoic
EON
(541 mya - present)
"The
age of visible life"
|
ERA
|
Period
|
Epoch
|
Evolutionary
Milestones
|
|
(65
mya - today) |
Quaternary
(2.6
mya - today) |
Holocene
(11 kya - today) |
. |
Pleistocene
(2.6
mya - 11K)
|
.
|
|
|
Hominids,
the australopithecines
Homo habilis |
|
Primates & 1st
bipedal apes.
Mastodons
Some 95% of plants are extant today; almost all extant bird families
present by epoch end. New vertebrate
and higher mammals (seals) & marine life species & associated
apex predators like megalodon sharks.
|
|
|
Evolution
of more modern animals continued: particularly among mammals (1st
seals & sea lions). Armadillos, predatory
marsupials, sloths,
Carnivorous ground birds evolve in South America.
Modern looking invertebrates (eg. bivalves, cephalopods, crustaceans,
echinoids & snails appear in increasingly complex
carbonate and coral reef systems.
Modern grazers adapted to new apex predators.
Saber-toothed cat with
longer legs and speed. Oreodonts & other herebivores abundant.
|
|
First
grasses appear
Many new avian orders
Tremendous post Mesozoic mammal
Dawn horses, rodents & 1st
true primates; Whales and sea cows. |
|
|
Angiospermsco-evolution
with bees.
Small mammals radiate. |
|
|
(145
- 65 mya)
|
Upper
(100
- 66 mya)
|
Tyrannosaurus and Mosasaurs appear
late.
|
|
| Lizards;
placental animals (early mammals); Snakes
Social marsupials.
P
rimitive placental animals.
New insect forms - social
Hymenopterans
Orb weaver spiders of Family Araneidae.
Pterosaurs
Archosaur
reptiles
Dinosaurs
Chondrichthyes
Actinopterygii |
|
|
| Theropods:
Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus
& Megalosaurus.
Archaeopteryx
Archosaurian
reptiles
Herbivorous
sauropods (Camarasaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus).
Flowering plants (angiosperms)
Birds
Crabs
F
rogs
Salamanders.
Dinosaurs |
|
| Salamanders
Herbivorous
Stegosauria & Brachiosaurus & Carnosauria
Theropod dinosaurs
Conifers
Plesiosaurs |
|
| Lepidopterans.
Ginkophyta.
|
|
|
| Flowering
plants.
Major extinction event: tabulate corals and conodonts disappear
- ammonoids, reptiles and amphibians decimated
Eearly theropods
Crocodiles
M
marine
reptiles
Turtles
Pterosauria
Mammals
Dermaptera insects
New seed plants.
|
|
| Termites and
Flies.
Small dinosaurs like Nyasasaurus
Sinapsids. |
|
| Planktonic
organisms
Ichthyosaurs
Belemite cephalopods |
|
(541 - 252 mya) |
|
Lopingian
(259
- 252 mya)
| .
|
Guadalupian
(272
- 252 mya)
| Seed
plants.
Hemiptera.
Amniotes radiate
Proto
lizards
Mammals,
Turtles
Archosaurs.
|
Cisuralian
(299
- 272 mya)
| Cycads
New insects
Amphibians,
Diapsid tetrapods
Mammal-like synapsid reptiles - Dimetrodon. |
(359 -
299 mya)
"Age of Coal"
|
Pennsylvanian
(323
- 299 mya)
| Conifers
Reptiles
(possibly amniotic)
True spiders (Order Araneae)
Scale trees, ferns, club trees, tree ferns,
giant
horsetails,
cordaites.
Winged insects. beetles (Coleoptera) and
dragonflies (Odonata).
Hexapod
arthropods.
|
Mississippian
(359 - 323
mya)
| Brachiopods,
bryozoans, echinoderms fishes, mollusks
Seed plants
L
ycopods
Amniotic
eggs
|
(419
- 359 mya)
"Age of Fishes"
|
| Plant
seeds (Gymnosperms).
Land colonization
Insects
Sharks
Amphibians
Seed plants.
New fishes
Rhizodont predatory lobe-finned
fishes |
|
| Plant roots,
leaves and wood |
|
| Lungfish.
Insects
Ammonites |
|
| Insects
Arachnids
(Trigonotarbida)
Lobe-finned
fish, the Sarcopterygii
Ray finned fish
(Actinopterygii)
Cartilaginious
fish
Chondrichthyes
Primitive terrestrial
predators. |
|
| Vascular
plants Cooksonia.
Eurypterids |
|
| Placoderms
Millipedes. |
Llandovery
(443 - 433 mya)
| Acanthodii
(spiny sharks |
(485 - 443
mya)
"Great Ordovician Radiation" |
Upper
(458 - 443 mya)
| Vascular
plant spores.
Bryozoans |
|
Middle
(470 - 458 mya)
| Vascular
land plant spores
Trilobites brachiopods, molluscs cephalopods and other mollucs, crinoids
and other echinoderms, graptolites,
cnidarians.
Jawed fish, the Gnathostomata
Complex shallow water reef systems |
|
Lower
(485 - 470 mya)
| .
|
(541
- 485 mya)
"Cambrian Explosion"
|
Furongian
(497 -
485 mya)
| Cambrian – Ordovician
event ended the Cambrian Period, where many brachiopods
and conodonts perished, and trilobites were severely reduced.
Nautilods
Cephalopods
Gastropods
Asterozoa (starfish & brttle stars) |
Series
3
(509
- 497 mya)
| Vertebrates
fish
Conodonts
Trilobite diversity
|
Series
2
(521
- 509 mya)
| Primitive
plant from green algae.
Mollusc forms (Bivalvia) |
Terreneuvian
(541
- 521 mya)
| Cambrian
explosion of metazoa
Early chordate Haikouella
Putative
fish Haikouichthys and Myllokunmingia
Echinoderms (Crinozoa)
Agnathans |
|
(2500-541 mya) |
Neoproterozoic
(1000
- 541 mya)
Late
|
Ediacaran or
Vendian
(635
- 541 mya)
|
Tommotian mineralized
Fauna (small shelly animals
Macroscopic, soft-bodied organisms metazoa (multicellular
animals)
T
trilobitamorphs
Poriferans
Enigmatica
|
|
Stromatolites
Herbivorous
eukaryotes.
|
Cryogenian
(850
- 635 mya)
|
|
|
Chloroblasts
from cyanobacteria through endosymbiosis
Acritarchs radiate from eukaryotic and photosynthetic
dinoflagellates or eukaryotic protists. |
Mesoproterozoic
(1600
- 1000 mya)
Middle
|
Stenian
(1200
- 1000 mya)
|
. |
Ectasian
(1400
- 1200 mya)
|
Colonial
green algae flagellates
Photosynthetic eukaryotic
organisms |
Calymmian
(1600
- 1400 mya)
|
Prokaryotic
bacteria
Newly eukaryotic forms - photosynthetic
multicellular algae. |
Paleoproterozoic
(2500
- 1600 mya)
Early
|
Statherian
(1800
- 1600 mya)
|
Complex
single-celled life with aerobic metabolism
Eukaryotic
mitochondria
Stromatolites &
cyanobacteria
Filamentous algae (eukaryote)
|
Orosirian
(2050
- 1800 mya)
|
a. |
Rhyacian
(2300
- 2050 mya)
|
Potential
multicellular eukaryote Grypania spiralis, appearing as a coiled algae
in 2100 mya banded iron formations in Michigan. stromatolites
Putative appearance of earliest
multicellular organisms
Earliest known single-celled eukaryote are acritarchs
Acritarchs |
Siderian
(2500
- 2300 mya)
|
Photosynthetic
prokaryotes |
|
(4000-2500
mya) |
Neoarchean
(2800 - 2500 mya)
|
Stromatolites
Molecular
fossils suggest eukaryotes
|
Mesoarchean
(3200 - 2800 mya)
|
Prokaryotes
(Eubacteria
and Archaea)
Acritarchs
|
Paleoarchean
(3600 - 3200 mya)
|
Primitive Eukaryotes as
early as ~ 3500 mya after endosymbiosis.
Oxygenic photosynthetic cyanobacteria appear ~ 3500 mya.
Oldest
fossils are stromatolites: Apex Chert at 3550 mya & Strelly
Pool at 3430 mya in Pilbara, Western Australia.
|
Eoarchaean
(4000 - 3600
mya)
|
Oxygenic
photosynthetic prokaryotic bacteria
Putative first appearance of life,
at ~ 3800 mya & is Archaea
or Bacteria
|
|
(4567-4000
mya) |
Lower
Imbrian
(4100 - 4000 mya)
|
Self
replicating RNA molecules |
Nectarian
(4300
- 4100 mya)
|
. |
Basin
Groups
(4500
- 4300 mya)
|
. |
Cryptic
(4567
- 4500 mya)
|
.
|
