>>Although animals had previously ventured onto land in the earlier Devonian Period, animals with an amniotic egg—such as modern reptiles, birds and yes, even mammals—do not need to return to the water to reproduce, as modern amphibians still do. The amniotic egg is a self-contained pond, where the embryo and all its food and waste are stored surrounded by a protective, desiccation-resistant shell.<<

>>These ferns are what make Joggins in particular critical to our understanding of early tetrapod evolution. That’s because when they died, their soft inner cores rotted away, leaving behind their firm outer bark and a hollow interior. It’s within these hollowed-out stumps that animal remains were trapped and protected for over 300 million years, and where we find them today.<<

>>We can also examine their bones to learn about what kinds of activities they were doing in these new environments (Tetrapod Evolution). We’re seeing evidence at slightly younger Carboniferous localities that animals had already begun diversifying ecologically. We see the first burrowing animalsand some possibly arboreal animals.<<

>>Together these discoveries and new analyses will revise our understanding of the Carboniferous Period. No longer will we think of it as a boring, stagnant swamp filled with unspecialized creatures.

A new picture is now emerging, one of a dynamic environment that quickly filled up with animals with many new adaptations and abilities.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/tiny-animals-trapped-fossil-trees-reveal-how-fauna-moved-land-180972668/

PermeateFree said:

>>Although animals had previously ventured onto land in the earlier Devonian Period, animals with an amniotic egg—such as modern reptiles, birds and yes, even mammals—do not need to return to the water to reproduce, as modern amphibians still do. The amniotic egg is a self-contained pond, where the embryo and all its food and waste are stored surrounded by a protective, desiccation-resistant shell.<<

>>These ferns are what make Joggins in particular critical to our understanding of early tetrapod evolution. That’s because when they died, their soft inner cores rotted away, leaving behind their firm outer bark and a hollow interior. It’s within these hollowed-out stumps that animal remains were trapped and protected for over 300 million years, and where we find them today.<<

>>We can also examine their bones to learn about what kinds of activities they were doing in these new environments (Tetrapod Evolution). We’re seeing evidence at slightly younger Carboniferous localities that animals had already begun diversifying ecologically. We see the first burrowing animalsand some possibly arboreal animals.<<

>>Together these discoveries and new analyses will revise our understanding of the Carboniferous Period. No longer will we think of it as a boring, stagnant swamp filled with unspecialized creatures.

A new picture is now emerging, one of a dynamic environment that quickly filled up with animals with many new adaptations and abilities.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/tiny-animals-trapped-fossil-trees-reveal-how-fauna-moved-land-180972668/

> 300 million years

Cripes, that’s early.

The famous Baltic Amber is only 44 million years old.

The oldest amber fossil i’d heard of was less than 150 million years old.

I look forward to reading more about this.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

>>Although animals had previously ventured onto land in the earlier Devonian Period, animals with an amniotic egg—such as modern reptiles, birds and yes, even mammals—do not need to return to the water to reproduce, as modern amphibians still do. The amniotic egg is a self-contained pond, where the embryo and all its food and waste are stored surrounded by a protective, desiccation-resistant shell.<<

>>These ferns are what make Joggins in particular critical to our understanding of early tetrapod evolution. That’s because when they died, their soft inner cores rotted away, leaving behind their firm outer bark and a hollow interior. It’s within these hollowed-out stumps that animal remains were trapped and protected for over 300 million years, and where we find them today.<<

>>We can also examine their bones to learn about what kinds of activities they were doing in these new environments (Tetrapod Evolution). We’re seeing evidence at slightly younger Carboniferous localities that animals had already begun diversifying ecologically. We see the first burrowing animalsand some possibly arboreal animals.<<

>>Together these discoveries and new analyses will revise our understanding of the Carboniferous Period. No longer will we think of it as a boring, stagnant swamp filled with unspecialized creatures.

A new picture is now emerging, one of a dynamic environment that quickly filled up with animals with many new adaptations and abilities.<<

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/tiny-animals-trapped-fossil-trees-reveal-how-fauna-moved-land-180972668/

> 300 million years

Cripes, that’s early.

The famous Baltic Amber is only 44 million years old.

The oldest amber fossil i’d heard of was less than 150 million years old.

I look forward to reading more about this.

Oops, not fossil amber, hollow trees.

https://jogginsfossilcliffs.net/cliffs/biodiversity/

“The fossil record at Joggins contains 195 species (and counting), offering the most comprehensive sampling of terrestrial life (life on land) in the Pennsylvanian Coal Age.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20111121200250/http://jogginsfossilcliffs.net/centre/fossil_gallery/

“To date, over 200 species have been recovered from the Joggins section (Joggins Fossil Institute, unpublished data), broadly encompassing the entire food web in the terrestrial
realm. The assemblage represents four animal phyla, five classes of vascular plants, and three genera of protozoans (foraminifera).”

“Fossils from Joggins include the world’s earliest-known rep-
tile (Hylonomus lyelli), the world’s earliest-known land
snail (Dendropupa vetusta), and the tracks of the largest-
known land invertebrate (Arthropleura). The famous “fossil
forests”, including upright lycopsid and cordaite trees, occur
throughout much of the Joggins section. These trees are of
particular interest because they are preserved in situ and com-
monly contain remains of other organisms, collectively known
as the tree-hollow fauna. Many of the more recent
discoveries and taxonomic studies are of the vertebrates, mainly
amphibians, including the extinct groups of the microsaurs and
labyrinthodonts.”