The Mesozoic

The second era of the Phanerozoic Eon is the Mesozoic, which can be then divided into three periods: the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. During this stretch of time, reptiles would come to dominate, with terrestrial, flying, and aquatic representatives. Many other vertebrate groups, though, would still be very present and diverse, such as the bony/cartilaginous fishes, the amphibians, and, perhaps most importantly to us, the mammals. Plants would undergo a true revolution with the explosive spread of angiosperms, flower and fruit-bearing forms. These would, on their part, promote a massive radiation of insects, originating a path of coevolution that lasts to the present day. Additionally, this era would not be devoid of mass extinctions, with the last two, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event and the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, occurring here.

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