Introduction to the Mesozoic Era The Mesozoic is divided into three time periods: the Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), the Jurassic (208-146 Million Years Ago), and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago). Mesozoic means middle animals , and is the time during which the world fauna changed drastically from that which had been seen in the Paleozoic. Dinosaurs, which are perhaps the most ...

The Jurassic Period 208 to 146 Million Years Ago Great plant-eating dinosaurs roaming the earth, feeding on lush growths of ferns and palm-like cycads and bennettitaleans. . . smaller but vicious carnivores stalking the great herbivores. . . oceans full of fish, squid, and coiled ammonites, plus great ichthyosaurs and long-necked plesiosaurs. . . vertebrates taking to the air, like the ...

The Cretaceous Period 146 to 65 Million Years Ago The Cretaceous is usually noted for being the last portion of the Age of Dinosaurs , but that does not mean that new kinds of dinosaurs did not appear then. It is during the Cretaceous that the first ceratopsian and pachycepalosaurid dinosaurs appeared. Also during this time, we find the first fossils of many insect groups, modern mammal and bird ...

The Triassic Period 245 to 208 Million Years Ago In many ways, the Triassic was a time of transition. It was at this time that the world-continent of Pangaea existed, altering global climate and ocean circulation. The Triassic also follows the largest extinction event in the history of life, and so is a time when the survivors of that event spread and recolonized. The organisms of the Triassic ...

Endeavors article on NC's rauisuchian fossil ...

A PRELIMINARY BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF PHYTOSAUR LIFE HABITS William P. Wall Dept. of Biology, Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 Adrian P. Hunt Dept. of Geology , Univ. of Colorado at Denver Denver, CO 80217 Vincent L. Santucci Dept. of Parks & Recreation, Slippery Rock Univ. Slippery Rock, PA 16057 Three distinctive cranial patterns are recognized in phytosaurs.