Portal:Devonian

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The Devonian Portal

Map of the Earth during the late Devonian, c. 370 Ma.

The Devonian (/dəˈvoʊni.ən, dɛ-/ də-VOH-nee-ən, deh-) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era during the Phanerozoic eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian period at 419.2 million years ago (Ma), to the beginning of the succeeding Carboniferous period at 358.9 Ma. It is named after Devon, South West England, where rocks from this period were first studied.

The first significant evolutionary radiation of life on land occurred during the Devonian, as free-sporing land plants (pteridophytes) began to spread across dry land, forming extensive coal forests which covered the continents. By the middle of the Devonian, several groups of vascular plants had evolved leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants (pteridospermatophytes) appeared. This rapid evolution and colonization process, which had begun during the Silurian, is known as the Silurian-Devonian Terrestrial Revolution. The earliest land animals, predominantly arthropods such as myriapods, arachnids and hexapods, also became well-established early in this period, after beginning their colonization of land at least from the Ordovician period.

Fishes, especially jawed fish, reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to often be dubbed the Age of Fishes. The armored placoderms began dominating almost every known aquatic environment. In the oceans, cartilaginous fishes such as primitive sharks became more numerous than in the Silurian and Late Ordovician. Tetrapodomorphs, which include the ancestors of all four-limbed vertebrates (i.e. tetrapods), began diverging from freshwater lobe-finned fish as their more robust and muscled pectoral and pelvic fins gradually evolved into forelimbs and hindlimbs, though they were not fully established for life on land until the Late Carboniferous. (Full article...)

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Selected Devonian Article

Diagram showing evolution of Bactritida to Ammonoidea

The Bactritida are a small order of more or less straight-shelled (orthoconic) cephalopods that first appeared during the Emsian stage of the Devonian period (407 million years ago) with questionable origins in the Pragian stage before 409 million years ago, and persisted until the Carnian pluvial event in the upper middle Carnian stage of the Triassic period (231 million years ago). They are considered ancestors of the ammonoids, as well as of the coleoids (octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and the extinct belemnites).

Bactritids are distinguished from the more primitive nautiloids by the small size and globular shape of the protoconch, the so-called embryonic shell. Nautiloids have relatively large embryonic shells, and living species lay a few large eggs. In contrast, bactritids and ammonoids produced large numbers of small eggs, each housing a small embryonic shell. (Full article...)

List of selected Devonian articles
Sarcopterygii Trilobites Marcellus Formation Late Devonian extinction Acadian Orogeny List of Early Devonian land plants Dunkleosteus

Selected Devonian land plant article

Reconstruction of Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii

The rhyniophytes are a group of extinct early vascular plants that are considered to be similar to the genus Rhynia, found in the Early Devonian (around 419 to 393 million years ago). Sources vary in the name and rank used for this group, some treating it as the class Rhyniopsida, others as the subdivision Rhyniophytina or the division Rhyniophyta. The first definition of the group, under the name Rhyniophytina, was by Banks, since when there have been many redefinitions, including by Banks himself. "As a result, the Rhyniophytina have slowly dissolved into a heterogeneous collection of plants ... the group contains only one species on which all authors agree: the type species Rhynia gwynne-vaughanii". When defined very broadly, the group consists of plants with dichotomously branched, naked aerial axes ("stems") with terminal spore-bearing structures (sporangia). The rhyniophytes are considered to be stem group tracheophytes (vascular plants). (Full article...)

List of selected Devonian articles
pteridophytes Sigillaria Pteridospermatophyta Lycophyte Equisetidae Progymnosperm Trimerophytopsida Lycopodiopsida

Selected Devonian formation

The Traverse Group is a geologic group in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio comprising middle Devonian limestones with calcareous shale components. Its marine fossils notably include Michigan's state stone, the Petoskey stone (the extinct coral Hexagonaria percarinata), among other corals and records of ancient marine life. A range of trilobites has also been found in the Traverse Group.

The Traverse Group outcrops in Emmet and Charlevoix counties along the northwestern shore of Michigan's lower peninsula. Its formations are Gravel Point, Charlevoix Limestone, Petoskey, and Whiskey Creek. The Gravel Point Formation consists of a lithographic gray to brown limestone with shale beds up to 0.5 meters thick; it also includes chert nodules and bioherms (fossilized reef mounds). The Charlevoix Limestone is a mildly argillaceous limestone with interbedded coquina. The Petoskey Formation is an arenaceous limestone named for its locale (Petoskey, Michigan), and contains the eponymous Petoskey stones. The Whiskey Creek Formation is a limestone.

The Traverse Group formed as a shallow carbonate shelf during the Devonian period (~419 to 359 Ma), when the most recent supercontinent, Pangea, was just beginning to take shape. (Full article...)

List of selected Devonian formation articles
Tully Formation Hamilton Group Tioga Bentonites Windom shale Rhinestreet Formation Oriskany Formation Bakken formation New Albany Shale Old Red Sandstone Grey Downtonian

Selected Devonian fish article

An artist's depiction of Ventastega curonica chasing prey.

Ventastega (Venta referring to the Venta River at the Ketleri Formation where Ventastega was discovered) is an extinct genus of stem tetrapod that lived during the Upper Fammenian of the Late Devonian, approximately 372.2 to 358.9 million years ago. Only one species is known that belongs in the genus, Ventastega curonica, which was described in 1996 after fossils were discovered in 1933 and mistakenly associated with a fish called Polyplocodus wenjukovi. ‘Curonica’ in the species name refers to Curonia, the Latin name for Kurzeme, a region in western Latvia. Ventastega curonica was discovered in two localities in Latvia, and was the first stem tetrapod described in Latvia along with being only the 4th Devonian tetrapodomorph known at the time of description. Based on the morphology of both cranial and post-cranial elements discovered (see below), Ventastega is more primitive than other Devonian tetrapodomorphs including Acanthostega and Ichthyostega, and helps further understanding of the fish-tetrapod transition. (Full article...)

List of selected Devonian fish articles
Ctenaspis Brochoadmones Cheirolepis Holoptychius Hyneria Lepidaspis Scaumenacia Tinirau clackae Placoderm Diplocercides Dipterus Elpistostegalia Gooloogongia Tristichopteridae Phoebodus Stethacanthidae Xenacanthus

Selected Devonian invertebrate

Orchesella cincta

Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have internal mouthparts, they do not appear to be any more closely related to one another than they are to all insects, which have external mouthparts.

Collembolans are omnivorous, free-living organisms that prefer moist conditions. They do not directly engage in the decomposition of organic matter, but contribute to it indirectly through the fragmentation of organic matter and the control of soil microbial communities. The word Collembola is from the ancient Greek κόλλα kólla "glue" and ἔμβολος émbolos "peg"; this name was given due to the existence of the collophore, which was previously thought to stick to surfaces to stabilize the creature.

Some DNA sequence studies suggest that Collembola represent a separate evolutionary line from the other Hexapoda, but others disagree; this seems to be caused by widely divergent patterns of molecular evolution among the arthropods. The adjustments of traditional taxonomic rank for springtails reflect the occasional incompatibility of traditional groupings with modern cladistics: when they were included with the insects, they were ranked as an order; as part of the Entognatha, they are ranked as a subclass. If they are considered a basal lineage of Hexapoda, they are elevated to full class status. (Full article...)