EEB 2245 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Laurasia
21 Jun 2019
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During the mesozoic, pangaea began to break up, beginning with the formation of the. Tethyan seaway between asia and africa, and then the full separation of a northern land mass, called laurasia, from a southern continent known as gondwana. Another mass extinction occurred at the end of the triassic, associated with a massive release of carbon into the atmosphere and global warming. During the mesozoic and continuing into the early cenozoic, predation seems to have escalated. A major event in life"s history is the rise of the angiosperms, the flowering plants, which evolved from a gymnosperm ancestor in the late jurassic and became fairly diverse by the early cretaceous. Largely because of the spectacular increase of angiosperms and insects, terrestrial diversity is greater today than ever before. Among the most highly modified archosaurs are the pterosaurs, one of the three major vertebrate groups that evolved powered flight.
