Visean Age
Evidence for Plant Herbivory
The Visean Stage (347-331 Ma) is the second age in the Carboniferous Period, occurring after the Tournaisian age, and before the Serpukhovian age
Geologic Age
346.7±0.4–330.9±0.3 Ma
Eon / Era / Period / Epoch
Above: The pinna of a medullosid seed fern, Neuropteris, with evidence of herbivory
What happened during this time?
Biological
Flora
Zygopteridales appear on the landscape
Frond pinnae which were small and planated.
Quadriserate fronds (pinnae borne at right angles to each other)
Other leaf types appear before this time, such as microphylls in clubmosses
Medullosid seed ferns also appear in the late Visean
Fauna
Some of the earliest evidence of plant herbivory during this time
Oldest known broken tetrapod bone: the forearm of Ossinodus pueri from Queensland, Australia.
Two-meter-long primitive tetrapod lived around 333 million years ago,
Fractured radius under a high-force, impact-type scenario indicating terrestrial habit