#archaeopteris

[bobnichollsart]

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

In 2013 I built 23 scale and life-size models for MUSE Science Museum, in Trento, Italy. Here's a bit of Archaeopteris foliage, from the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous.

[taphonomenon]

Some miscellaneous extinct organisms found in my home state

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Archaeopteris 🤝Humans

Single Handedly Causing a Mass Extinction with Rapid Climate Change, *mostly* by accident

(the mostly is for humans, who eventually started realizing what we were doing and yet have continued doing the thing, rendering it On Purpose)

(I am assuming Archaeopteris never realized what they were doing but I guess I could be wrong)

[bolaneno]

The World's Oldest Forest Is Here in the Hudson Valley

The discovery of fossil trees in Cairo dates the Hudson Valley forest to approximately 386 million years old.

[vickysaurus-art]

On a rainy Devonian day, a Tiktaalik father guards his eggs in a small forest river. Meanwhile, his hunting mate has her eye on a Bothriolepis. Another Bothriolepis is eating something buried in the river sediment, drawing the attention of a Coccosteus.

I've wanted to draw Tiktaalik for a while. It's easily the most depicted creature of the Devonian, but it always seems to get shown boldly pulling itself onto the land. While that was of course extremely important in hindsight, surely they spent much more of their time living quite happily underwater. So here's some interesting behaviour some lungfish do: the dads guard their eggs after they're lain in water plants.

[gaynaturalistghost]

Cyphe! My necromancer but only for plant creatures (she’s paleobotanist Baybe!). I have reskinned all summoning spells for this type of thing. Here is archaeopteris archaeopteryx the funniest common thread between paleontology and paleobotany I ever could have found by accident.

[hojpojjery]

Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest forest—and its radical impact on life

Fossil roots helped suck up carbon from atmosphere, fundamentally changing the climate

Very exciting news! The Archaeopteris specimen discussed in this article is estimated to have flourished 385 million years ago, 30 million years older than any other sample of the species previously found. Not only that but it was quite large, maybe indicating a well developed organic layer in the soil that would indicate a complete forest ecosystem! This tree may have been part the first boreal forest ever on Earth! Astonishing.

[252mya]

Late Devonian forest

Artwork by Franz Anthony / @franzanth

The early forests of Late Devonian altered the environment, forcing animals to adapt. Creatures like Tiktaalik, a transitional animal showing traits of both fish and amphibians, lived in this period.

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252MYA creates custom-made artwork for private collections and editorial, scientific, or educational project.