Editing Mesozoic (section)

===Fauna===
[[File:Europasaurus holgeri Scene 2.jpg|thumb|[[Dinosaur]]s were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates throughout much of the Mesozoic.]]
The extinction of nearly all animal species at the end of the [[Permian]] Period allowed for the [[adaptive radiation|radiation]] of many new lifeforms.  In particular, the extinction of the large [[herbivore|herbivorous]] [[pareiasaur]]s and [[carnivore|carnivorous]] [[gorgonopsia]]ns left those [[ecological niche]]s empty. Some were filled by the surviving [[cynodont]]s and [[dicynodont]]s, the latter of which subsequently became extinct.

Recent research indicates that it took much longer for the reestablishment of complex ecosystems with high biodiversity, complex food webs, and specialized animals in a variety of niches, beginning in the mid-Triassic 4 million to 6 million years after the extinction,<ref name="LehrmannRamezanBowring2006TimingOfRecovery">{{cite journal | title=Timing of recovery from the end-Permian extinction: Geochronologic and biostratigraphic constraints from south China | last1=Lehrmann |first1=D. J. |last2=Ramezan |first2=J. |last3=Bowring |first3=S.A. | display-authors=etal |
journal=[[Geology (journal)|Geology]] |date=December 2006 | volume=34 | pages=1053–56 | doi=10.1130/G22827A.1 | issue=12 |bibcode = 2006Geo....34.1053L }}</ref> and not fully proliferated until 30 million years after the extinction.<ref name="SahneyBenton2008RecoveryFromProfoundExtinction">{{cite journal |author1=Sahney, S. |author2=Benton, M. J. |name-list-style=amp | date=2008 | title=Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time | journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences]] | doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.1370 | volume = 275 | pages = 759–65| pmid=18198148 | issue=1636 | pmc=2596898}}</ref> During the Triassic, terrestrial herbivores avoided competition through significant niche partitioning by generally occupying highly distinct guilds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Suresh A. |last2=Elsler |first2=Armin |last3=Stubbs |first3=Thomas L. |last4=Bond |first4=Russell |last5=Rayfield |first5=Emily J. |last6=Benton |first6=Michael James |date=14 May 2021 |title=Niche partitioning shaped herbivore macroevolution through the early Mesozoic |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23169-x |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=2796 |doi=10.1038/s41467-021-23169-x |issn=2041-1723 |access-date=7 April 2025}}</ref> Animal life was then dominated by various archosaurs: [[dinosaur]]s, pterosaurs, and aquatic reptiles such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and [[mosasaur]]s.

The climatic changes of the late Jurassic and Cretaceous favored further adaptive radiation. The Jurassic was the height of archosaur diversity, and the first [[bird]]s and [[eutheria]]n mammals also appeared. Some have argued that [[insect]]s diversified in [[symbiosis]] with angiosperms, because insect [[anatomy]], especially the mouth parts, seems particularly well-suited for flowering plants. However, all major insect mouth parts preceded angiosperms, and insect diversification actually slowed when they arrived, so their anatomy originally must have been suited for some other purpose.{{Citation needed|reason=Molecular clock data for at least some genera are consistent with insect/angiosperm co-evolution. While also potentially plausible, this counter-claim should be supported with a citation.|date=October 2021}}
{{clear}}