BIOL 2400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Phylogenetic Tree, Terrestrial Animal, Branching Process
19 Jan 2017
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Day 5: fossils + major groups [jan 18] Most extant animal phyla are present by the end of the cambrian, as well as several groups that went extinct. Appearance of major groups transition from ocean to land, a major event in evolution. Prokaryotes colonized terrestrial environments first fossils date to 2. 6 bya terrestrial animals, plants, and fungi appeared much later first terrestrial plant and fungal life. Oldest terrestrial plant fossils are 475 my old large forest ecosystems within 100 my fungi appear ~400 my. Associated with plants first terrestrial animal life invertebrate trackways date to 480 my. Not clear whether they lived on land permanently. Oldest fossil of fully terrestrial animal dates to 428 my first terrestrial vertebrates. Oldest trackways date to 390 my ago. Oldest fossils of tetrapods date back to 370 mya familiar forms of life did not emerge until recently. 350 mya many currently existing lineages had yet to evolve teleost fish, mammals, birds, flowering plants.
