Prehistoric Ecosystems: Carboniferous Forests

[Totoro]

CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD - FORESTS

MAJOR ECOSYSTEMS
Seas and Oceans
Bottomland Forests


CONFIRMED BIOTA

Animals:

Amphibians:
Eryops

Reptiles:

Spiders:

Millipedes:
Arthropleura

Land snails:

Scorpions:

Insects:
Dragonflies (Meganeura,
Cockroaches

Plants:

Seed Ferns:
Neuropteris
Pecopteris
Alethopteris
Archaeopteris
Sphenopteris

Horsetail relatives:
Sphenophyllum
Annularia

Scale/club moss trees:
Sigillaria
Lepidodendron


LINKS

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

From the Llewellyn Formation of St. Clair:

Seed Ferns: Neuropteris, Pecopteris Alethopteris, Archaeopteris, Sphenopteris

Sphenophyllum, Annularia, Lepidodendron and Sigillaria

[Totoro]

Thank you, @Pachyrhinosaurus!

Also, this page will be a placeholder for Period wildlife illustrations and fossil pix.


Diplocaulus

[Totoro]

This page will be a placeholder for Period plant illustrations and fossil pix.

[Totoro]

This page will be a placeholder for scenic illustrations of this Period.

[Halichoeres]

Some really nice illustrations of Carboniferous ecosystems from a recent paper (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110056).


Panel A by Jan Vriesen, others by Mary Parrish
A: lycopsids and sphenopsids
B: lycopsids and marattialean tree ferns, with ferns and cordaitaleans in the undergrowth
C: marattialean tree ferns with Sigillaria and pteridosperms
D: cordaitalean forest with ferns and pteridosperms
E: Walchian conifers with small pteridosperms, ferns, and sphenopsids