Plants

Equisetales
(horse-tails)

Description
Picture
The Equisetales is an order of pteridophytes
with only one living genus Equisetum
(horsetails), of the family Equisetaceae. The
fossil record includes additional extinct
species in the Equisetaceae and the extinct
families Calamitaceae, Archaeocalamitaceae
and Phyllothecaceae.

Sphenophyllales They are fossils dating from the Devonian to

(scrambling
the Triassic. They were common during the
plants)
Late Pennsylvanian to Early Permian, with
most of the fossils coming from the
Carboniferous period.
Sphenophyllales are small, slender
branching plants, usually growing to a
height of less than 1 m (3.3 ft) tall. The long
stems range from 0.5 cm (0.20 in) to 1.2 cm
(0.47 in) in diameter. The stems are jointed
and ribbed with weak habits, making it
probable that these plants were vine or
shrub-like when alive, and formed a portion
of the understory in Carboniferous forests.
Reproductive parts are either long terminal
cones (consisting of two lobes, a sterile
lower lobe and the fertile upper lobe
bearing the sporangia) or loose strobili. All
sphenophylls are homosporous, with
monolete or trilete spores

Lycopodiales
(club mosses)

Lycopodiopsida is a class of herbaceous

vascular plants known as the clubmosses
and firmosses. They have dichotomously
branching stems bearing simple leaves
without ligules and reproduce by means of
spores borne in sporangia at the bases of
the leaves

Lepidodendrales Lepidodendrales had tall, thick trunks that

(scale trees)
rarely branched and were topped with a
crown of bifurcating branches bearing
clusters of leaves. These leaves were long
and narrow, similar to large blades of grass,
and were spirally-arranged.
Filicales (ferns) The order Polypodiales encompasses the
major lineages of polypod ferns, which
comprise more than 80% of today's fern
species. They are found in many parts of
the world including tropical, semitropical
and temperate areas. The characteristics of
this group include: sporangia with a vertical
annulus interrupted by the stalk and
stomium; indusia laterally or centrally
attached (or lost); gametophytes green,
chordate, and surficial.
Polypodiales may be regarded as one of the
most evolutionarily advanced orders of
monilophytes (ferns), based on recent

Medullosales

Cordaitales

genetic analysis. They arose and diversified

about 100 million years ago, probably
subsequent to the diversification of the
angiosperms.
The Medullosales is an order of
pteridospermous seed plants characterised
by large ovules with circular cross-section,
with a vascularised nucellus, complex
pollen-organs, stems and rachides with a
dissected stele, and frond-like leaves.
Most medullosaleans were small to
medium sized trees. The largest were
probably the trees with Alethopteris fronds
- these fronds could be at least 7 metres
long[3] and the trees were perhaps up to 10
metres tall. Especially in Moscovian times,
many medullosaleans were rather smaller
trees with fronds only about 2 metres long,
and apparently growing in dense, mutually
supporting stands.[4]
Cordaitales are an extinct order of woody
plants that may have been early conifers, or
which may have given rise to the conifers
(Pinophyta), ginkgos (Ginkgophyta) and
cycads (Cycadophyta). They had cone-like
reproductive structures reminiscent of those
of modern conifers. The Cordaitales
appeared during the Carboniferous Period
forming large trees that seem to have been
particularly abundant on drier ground, in
tropical environments. Also, some tall trees

Cycadophyta
(cycads)

Callistophytales

but also shrubby and mangrove-like species

of Cordaitales seem to have grown in the
Carboniferous coal swamps. Cordaitales
were also abundant during the Permian, but
became less important during the Triassic
and died out during the time of the endTriassic mass extinction. Many Cordiatales
had elongated strap-like leaves, resembling
some modern-day conifers of the
Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae.
Common genera from the Carboniferous
include Mesoxylon and Cordaixylon.
Cycads /sakdz/ are seed plants with a
long fossil history that were formerly more
abundant and more diverse than they are
today. They typically have a stout and
woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of
large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They
usually have pinnate leaves. The individual
plants are either all male or all female
(dioecious). Cycads vary in size from having
trunks only a few centimeters to several
meters tall. They typically grow very slowly
and live very long, with some specimens
known to be as much as 1,000 years old.
Because of their superficial resemblance,
they are sometimes mistaken for palms or
ferns, but are only distantly related to
either.
The Callistophytales was an order of mainly
scrambling and lianescent plants found in
the wetland "coal swamps" of Euramerica

Utrechtiaceae

and Cathaysia. They were characterised by

having bilaterally-symmetrical, non-cupulate
ovules attached to the underside of
pinnules that were morphologically similar
to the "normal" vegetative pinnules; and
small compound pollen-organs, also borne
on the underside of unmodified pinnules,
that produced saccate pollen.
They were forest trees with almost
horizontal standing leafy lateral shoots and
with vertical tribes.They were generally
small trees. At least with Utrechtia
piniformis the side shoots are in whorls.
Like other Voltzialean plants they had
compact ovulate cones bearing bilateral
bract-scale complexes. The leaves are
scale-like, arranged spirally and only a few
millimeters long.

Lepidodendron

Lepidodendron had tall, thick trunks that

rarely branched and were topped with a
crown of bifurcating branches bearing
clusters of leaves. These leaves were long
and narrow, similar to large blades of grass,
and were spirally-arranged. The vascular
system was a siphonostele with exarch
xylem maturation.

Sigillaria

Sigillaria was a tree-like plant reaching a

height up to 30 meters,with a tall, single or
occasionally forked trunk that lacked wood.
Support came from a layer of closely
packed leaf bases just below the surface of
the trunk, while the center was filled with
pith. The long, thin grasslike leaves were
attached directly to the stem and grew in a

Pecopteris

Neuropteris

spiral along the trunk.The old leaf bases

expanded as the trunk grew in width, and
left a diamond-shaped pattern, which is
evident in fossils. These leaf scars were
arranged in vertical rows. The trunk had
photosynthetic tissue on the surface,
meaning that it was probably green.
Pecopteris is a very common form genus of
leaves. Most Pecopteris leaves and fronds
are associated with the marattialean tree
fern Psaronius. However, Pecopteris-type
foliage also is borne on several filicalean
ferns, and at least one seed fern. Pecopteris
first appeared in the Devonian period, but
flourished in the Carboniferous, especially
the Pennsylvanian. Plants bearing these
leaves became extinct in the Permian
period.
Neuropteris is an extinct seed fern that
existed in the Carboniferous period, known
only from fossils. Major species include
Neuropteris loschi. It is a fairly common
fossil in bituminous coal with Alethopteris
and similar ferns, especially in the
Carboniferous Alleghany Mountains of
Pennsylvania, they can be found near St.
Clair, Pennsylvania .
One common leaf fossil found during the
Carboniferous was once called Neuropteris
scheuchzeri. In 1989, it was reclassified as
Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri. It is the most

abundant leaf fossils at Mazon Creek fossil

beds in Illinois. Go to Macroneuropteris for
more information.
Calamites

Voltziales

Calamites is a genus of extinct arborescent

(tree-like) horsetails to which the modern
horsetails (genus Equisetum) are closely
related. Unlike their herbaceous modern
cousins, these plants were medium-sized
trees, growing to heights of more than 30
meters (100 feet). They were components
of the understories of coal swamps of the
Carboniferous Period (around 360 to 300
million years ago).
an extinct order of trees related to modern
conifers. In the fossil record, the most
common member of the order is Walchia,
known originally for its leaf form genus, and
the order is commonly called Walchian.

Animals
Baphetidae

Baphetoidea

Description
Picture
Baphetidae is an extinct family of early
tetrapods. Baphetids were large
labyrinthodont predators of the Late
Carboniferous period (Namurian through
Westphalian) of Europe. Fragmentary remains
from the Early Carboniferous of Canada have
been tentatively assigned to the group. The
phylogenetic relationships of baphetids is
uncertain; while many studies have placed
the group as a close relative of Amniota,
other analyses have found Baphetidae to be
a more basal clade of early stem tetrapods.
Baphetids were among the first of the
Carboniferous fossil tetrapods to be found
and were originally described in 1850 by John
William Dawson. The baphetids have been
referred to the family Loxommatidae, but this
group was later shown to be a junior
synonym of Baphetidae, which was named
earlier in 1865. Baphetids are known mainly
from skulls; very little postcranial material
has been found.
Baphetoidea is a superfamily of early
tetrapods. It includes the family Baphetidae
and several more basal genera such as
Eucritta and Spathicephalus (which has been
given its own family Spathicephalidae). The
superfamily has also been called
Loxommatoidea, but this name is a junior
synonym of Baphetoidea.

Eogyrinus

Eogyrinidae is an extinct family of large, longbodied tetrapods that lived in the rivers of
the Late Carboniferous period.

Pteroplax

Pteroplax ( meaning finned tablet) is an

extinct genus of Reptiliomorpha. It may be
the same as Eogyrinus. Pteroplax dates from
the late Carboniferous, 290 million years ago.
It grew to be 15 ft(4.5m)and was 550 lbs(250
kg). On land, Pteroplax was slow and
cumbersome, but in the water, it moved fast
in search of prey. It had a long, eel- like body,
with short limbs and a long tail. It spent most
of its life in water, with the right adaptations
for it. It had small, webbed feet on its back
legs, but mostly used its tail. It had a long
head, which was full of many sharp teeth on
the upper and lower jaws. It was the top
predator in the swamps in which it lived in.
They were found in Europe.
Diplovertebro Diplovertebron is an extinct genus of
n
Anthracosauria (Labyrinthodont) that lived in
the Late Carboniferous period (Moscovian)
(300 million years ago). Diplovertebron was a
medium-size animal, 60 cm in length.
Its skull produced a tapering triangle, like a
small-scale replica of a crocodile's skull. The
otic notches in the posterior part of the skull,
which are normally present in primitive
amphibians, were very small in
Diplovertebron, but the structure of the

vertebrae was very primitive and the

notochord persisted into adulthood. The
limbs were sturdy, but lightly built and had
five digits. The carpal or 'wrist' and tarsal or
'ankle' bones were cartilaginous, and did not
ossify. The limbs were used mainly in water,
where hydrostatic pressure reduced the
weight of the body.
Hederellid
Hederellids are extinct colonial animals with
calcitic tubular branching exoskeletons. They
range from the Silurian to the Permian and
were most common in the Devonian period.
They are more properly known as
"hederelloids" because they were originally
defined as a suborder by Bassler (1939), who
described about 130 species. Although they
have traditionally been considered
bryozoans, they are clearly not because of
their branching patterns, lack of an
astogenetic gradient, skeletal microstructure,
and wide range in tube diameters (Wilson and
Taylor, 2001). Work continues on assessing
the true affinities of hederelloids, but they
appear to be most closely related to
phoronids and other lophophorates
Megalocephal Megalocephalus (meaning "big head") is an
us
extinct genus of baphetid amphibian from
the late Carboniferous of the British Isles. It
contains two species, M. pachycephalus and
M. lineolatus.
It is only known from its skull, like most other
baphetids. The skull of Megalocephalus was

Mesothelae

Terebratulida
e

30 centimetres (12 in) long. The teeth of

Megalocephalus were long and pointed.
Baphetids had a small elongation of their eye
sockets, of which the current use for is not
certain. It has been suggested that the
elongation was housing for a salt gland to get
rid of excess salt, or an extra region for jaw
muscle attachments, to allow a harder bite
force.
Mesothelae is a suborder of spiders (order
Araneae) that includes a single living (extant)
family, Liphistiidae, and a number of extinct
families. This suborder is thought to form the
sister group to all other living spiders, and
retain ancestral characters, such as a
segmented abdomen with spinnerets in the
middle and two pairs of book lungs. Members
of Liphistiidae are medium to large spiders
with eight eyes grouped on a tubercle. They
are only found in China, Japan, and southeast
Asia..
Terebratulidae is a family of brachiopods with
a fossil record dating back to the Late
Devonian.

Whatcheeriida Whatcheeriidae is an extinct family of

e
tetrapods which lived in the Mississippian
sub-period, a subdivision of the Carboniferous
period. It contains the genera Pederpes,
Whatcheeria, and possibly Ossinodus. Fossils

Meganeura

Megarachne

of a possible whatcheeriid have been found

from the Red Hill locality of Pennsylvania. If
these remains are from a whatcheeriid, they
extend the range of the family into the Late
Devonian and suggest that advanced
tetrapods may have lived alongside primitive
tetrapod ancestors like Hynerpeton and
Densignathus.[1] They also imply that a very
long ghost lineage of whatcheeriids lived
through Romer's gap, a period during the
Early Carboniferous conspicuously lacking in
tetrapod remains.
Meganeura is a genus of extinct insects from
the Carboniferous period (approximately 300
million years ago), which resembled and are
related to the present-day dragonflies. With
wingspans of up to 65 cm (25.6 in), M. monyi
is one of the largest known flying insect
species; the Permian Meganeuropsis permiana
is another. Meganeura were predatory, and
fed on other insects.
Megarachne servinei is an extinct eurypterid
found in Upper Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian
Gzhelian)-aged freshwater strata near
Crdoba, Argentina.

Pulmonoscor
pius

Falcatus

Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis (literally

breathing scorpion) is a giant species of
extinct scorpion that lived during the Visan
epoch of the Carboniferous. Its fossils were
found at East Kirkton, West Lothian in
Scotland. In life, this species grew to 70
centimetres (28 in) long.
The diet of Pulmonoscorpius is not known
directly, but arthropods may have formed
part of its diet, and its sting may have been
able to fell small tetrapods.[3]
It was a 2530 cm or 10-12 inches long
"cladodont-toothed stethacanthid shark" [1]
The first material known from the genus were
the prominent fin spines that curved
anteriorly over the head of the animal. When
first described in 1883 from the St. Louis
Limestone, these remains were given the
name Physonemus falcatus. However, in
1985, fossils of a new type of condrichthyan
from Montana were described that displayed
a high degree of sexual dimorphism. The
same spines that were previously named P.
falcatus were found on one of the morphs,
identified as the male due to the presence of
valvae.

Akmonistion

Akmonistion is an extinct genus of shark that

lived in the Early Carboniferous. Its remains
have been found in Scotland.