Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[comicdonna]

I wonder if the trees were larger, back in the dinosaur days?

[Silver Surfer]

I wonder if the trees were larger, back in the dinosaur days?

 

Probably given that everything else was. Interesting that 100 years ago there were many accounts of trees begin 350-450 tall that were cut down, shame.

[Flex Mentallo]

From what I remember, the landscape would have looked surprisingly familiar to us. Maple, magnolia, oak, and beech all appeared around this time. (Conifers and ferns had been around a lot longer.)

 

 

Bees evolved around the same time, and in spreading pollen were largely responsible for the evolution of flowering plants, which includes the grasses, which surprisingly had not previously existed. In fact grass evolved just prior to the extinction of the dinosaurs. But for T. Rex it was much like a walk in the park.

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Of course, according to Hollywood, dinosaurs never died. Our fascination with them abides.

 

[sacentaur]

An estimated 96% of all species were wiped out in massive volcanic upheavals.

 

Yet amazingly nature has a way of re-evolving (so-to-speak). For example, after the Permian extinction (250 million years ago), certain species of snails completely disappeared from the fossil record, only to reappear millions of years later.

 

Fascinating stuff!

[Cat-Man_America]

An estimated 96% of all species were wiped out in massive volcanic upheavals.

 

Yet amazingly nature has a way of re-evolving (so-to-speak). For example, after the Permian extinction (250 million years ago), certain species of snails completely disappeared from the fossil record, only to reappear millions of years later.

 

Fascinating stuff!

 

Snails are notorious for slow come backs.

[Flex Mentallo]

An estimated 96% of all species were wiped out in massive volcanic upheavals.

 

Yet amazingly nature has a way of re-evolving (so-to-speak). For example, after the Permian extinction (250 million years ago), certain species of snails completely disappeared from the fossil record, only to reappear millions of years later.

 

Fascinating stuff!

 

I had not heard of this. I wonder why they disappeared and reappeared? Were there any theories? Did the snail provide clues to environmental changes previously unguessed?

 

In general terms, it seems that snails tended to survive extinctions because of their habitat, protected by water and sediment. (I was curious enough to look that up.)Do you have a link, Steve?

 

By what you say, the snail in question would be considered a Lazarus taxon, an evolutionary line that seems to have disappeared from the fossil record only to reappear much later.

 

Perhaps the most celebrated example of a Lazarus taxon - or 'living fossil', is the Coelacanth.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Only known from fossils., it was believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period. Paleontologists had a special interest in it because it was identified as an ancestor of the tetrapods. If so, it could have been the long sought missing link between fish and amphibians.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

And then, on December 23, 1938, the first living specimen was found off the east coast of South Africa. Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered the fish among the catch of a local angler. A Rhodes University ichthyologist, J.L.B. Smith, confirmed the fish's importance with a famous cable: "MOST IMPORTANT PRESERVE SKELETON AND GILLS = FISH DESCRIBED"

 

I remember reading about this in childhood, in the same kind of natural history book that Richard (Yellow Kid) mentioned earlier. Like him, I read those books until they fell apart.

 

There is a fascinating recent documentary about the discovery.

 

The fish rotted before Smith could properly examine it. Smith was to certain it would prove the theory that the fish walked on its fins on the ocean bottom.

 

Unfortunately for Smith, when live specimens were later observed in the wild, this was shown not to be the case.

 

 

 

[sacentaur]

Do you have a link, Steve?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Extinction-Million-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691165653/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

The author is firmly in the volcanic activity (as opposed to impact) camp for the Permian event.

[Flex Mentallo]

Thanks - I have just been reading about the competing theories. Fascinating stuff!

[Flex Mentallo]

WAYNE BARLOW

Just to round things out, I saved Wayne Barlow for last because he also creates interesting paintings that speculate about life on alien planets.he's also done film designs for harry Potter, hellboy and many other movies. His color palette reminds me of later Creepy and Eerie covers.

 

First, some of his dinosaurs. This could be alien life but is actually Velociraptor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Flex Mentallo]