Kasimovian Age

What happens during this time?

Flora

• Clubmoss forests covered tropical Euramerica

• Climate change devastated tropical rainforests creating a cooler, drier climate

  • Severely affected arboescent lycopsids which dominated the wetland areas

• By the late Kasimovian, rainforests were fragmented, forming shrinking patches further and further apart. 

Fauna

• This is the age of the giant flying meganeurid insects, called griffinflies

  • Meganeura was related to living dragonflies and damselflies, in the group Odonatoptera

  • They had wingspans ranging from 65 cm (25.6 in) to over 70 cm (28 in)

  • Meganeura monyi is one of the largest-known flying insect species every recorded in Earth's history

  • It is suggested that extremely high oxygen levels at this time allowed these insects to get to enormous sizes (Chapelle & Peck 1999)

  • Other researchers have suggested that a lack of aerial vertebrate predators may have been the cause (Bechly 2004) 

• There was a great loss of amphibian diversity

• Drier climate spurred the diversification of reptiles. 

• Terrestrial invertebrates were diverse and included annelids, molluscs, and arthropods, including the giant arthropleurids. 

  • Most were detritivorous, eating 'litter' off of the forest floor however, some had evolved herbivorous and predatory forms. 

  • By the end of the age, the Arthropleurids went extinct.