Life in the Mesozoic
The Age of Dinosaurs
Mesozoic Life Highlights
• Oceans repopulated with “Modern Fauna”
• Dominant land animals - Dinosaurs• First Flowering Plants & Social Insects
• First Mammals• First Birds• Two Mass Extinctions(end-Triassic and end-Cretaceous)
What’s Happening in the Oceans?
PhytoplanktonErupt
Paleozoic vs. Mesozoic
Rugosa & Tabulata Corals
Hexacorals
Reefs - Hexacorals
Reefs - Rudists
Paleozoic vs. Mesozoic
Brachiopods Bivalves & Gastropods
Inoceramids
Paleozoic vs. Mesozoic
Crinoids Echinoids (Sea Urchins)
Paleozoic vs. Mesozoic
Trilobites Crustaceans
Life was Adapting to Major Marine Predators
Ammanoids - Parapuzosia
Bony Fish - Xiphactinus
Marine Reptiles
Placodonts
Plesiosaurs:
Elasmosaurus
Kronosaurus
Ichthyosaurus
Mosasaurus
Largest-150 ft long!
Marine Reptile Relatio
ns
Giant Sea Turtles
The “Green Report”
Flower Power Add Color to the Earth
Angiosperms
First Flowers
Magnolia
Cretaceous Flower
Flowers and Insects
Cretaceous
Paleozoic vs. Mesozoic
Large Amphibians Frogs and Salamanders
Paracyclotosaurus
Triassic Frogs
Mesozoic Reptiles
Synapsids(Mammals)
Anapsids(Turtles)
Diapsids
Lizards& Snakes
Crocodiles
Pterosaurs
MarineReptiles
Dinosaurs& Birds
Archosaurs
Archosaurs:
Early Diapsids
Big Dinosaur Questions
• What are Dinosaurs?• How do we understand Dinosaur behavior?
• Where dinosaurs warm-blooded (endotherms) or cold-blooded (ectotherms)?
• Did birds evolve from dinosaurs?• What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?
Dinosaurs vs. “Reptiles”
1.Upright posture Legs beneath the body rather than to the side
2.Unique arrangement of ankle hinge (and other skeletal differences)
The 2 Major Lines of Dinosaurs
Critters Gallery
critters.pixel-shack.com
Russel Gooday & John Hughes
Ornithischia“Bird-Hipped Dinosaurs”
1.Stegosaurs2.Hadrosaurs3.Ankylosaurs4.Pachycephalosaurs5.Ceratopsids
All Herbivores
Hadrosaurs - “Duck-billed Dinosaurs”
Ouranosaurus
Hadrosaurs
Parasauralophus
Hadrosaurs
Maiasaurus
Laellynasaura
Stegosaurs
Stegosaurus
Ankylosaurids - Natures Tanks
Euoplocephalus
Ankylosaurids
ankylosaurus
Pachycephalosaurs - “Bone Heads”
Pachycephalosaurus
Ceratopsids
“Horned Dinos”
Torosaurus
Ceratopsids
Triceratops