LUCA Evol: Viruses | Bacteria | Plants | Fungi | Animals
The deeper I go into this timeline, the more I feel the sheer abundance of life. The fossil record gives us fragments, but the real story was fullness—living worlds spread across the planet, age after age, crowded with struggle, variation, and possibility. Life was not barely hanging on. It was everywhere, all at once, pressing forward.
Check out A Short Summary of Evolution for an introduction to how evolution works. Early LUCA evolution includes viruses and bacteria from earlier and plants, fungi, and animals.
Evolution
Evolution
Darwin identified several key categories, which are often discussed today as natural selection, sexual selection, and artificial selection.
Our true origin story.
LUCA: Last Universal Common Ancestor
LUCA's form is unknown. Imagined image of various LUCA shapes.
3.75 Billion years ago (+/- 100 million)
DNA, Ribosomes, and ATP
Prokaryotic Life
Archaea look like bacteria at first glance — small, simple, and lacking a nucleus. But they are fundamentally different.
3.73 Billion Years Ago (after LUCA)
Membrane and metabolic diversity.
Archaea Diverge
Both archaea and bacteria are prokaryotes — cells without nuclei.
3.73 Billion Years Ago (shortly after LUCA)
Ether-linked membranes and distinct genetic machinery
Touch: Life Learns to Feel Force
About 3.72 billion years ago, right after LUCA, when cells emerged, touch became the most ancient form of biological sensing: required to physically navigate reality.
~3.72 Billion Years Ago (after prokaryotes)
Mechanical sensitivity to pressure and membrane stretch
First True Bacteria
Bacteria and archaea are both prokaryotes, but archaea’s membrane chemistry and genetic machinery are fundamentally different — and archaeal ancestry gave rise to eukaryotic cells.
~3.7 Billion years ago (shortly after LUCA)
Peptidoglycan cell wall and Ester-linked lipids
Virus: Riboviria (Early RNA replicators)
About 3.7 billion years ago, RNA virus ancestors may trace back to the RNA world, but we can’t prove whether they predate LUCA or arose just after.
~3.7 Billion Years Ago (+/- 100 million)
Second Oceans: From Fresh to Salty
3.5 Billion Years Ago
3.5 to 2.5 Billion Years Ago
Oldest Known Fossil-Microorganisms
micro organisms cells background
3.42 Billion BCE
3.42 to 3.7 Billion BCE
Bacteriophage → Duplodnaviria
Around 3.2 billion years ago, the Duplodnaviria evolved a high-pressure, icosahedral protein armor that turned viruses into biological syringes capable of injecting DNA into any domain of life.
~3.2 Billion Years Ago (+/- 200 million)
The HK97-Fold (Steel Pouch)
Virus: Varidnaviria
About 2.75 billion years ago, the Varidnaviria evolved a unique "Double Jelly-Roll" protein fold to build massive, diverse shells, allowing viruses to scale up from tiny parasites to "giant" viruses that mimic cells.
~2.75 Billion years ago (+/- 200 million)
double jelly-roll capsid DNA viruses
Cyanobacteria: Sun Energy as Food!
top view of woman holding paper cut sun and planet with renewable energy sources on turquoise
2.7 Billion Years Ago
2.7 to 2.6 BYA
Blue-Green Bacteria (Not Algae)
Long before plants covered the land, cyanobacteria were already harvesting sunlight. In doing so, they slowly helped change Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, preparing the way for more complex life.
2.65 Billion years ago (+/- 50 million years)
Third Atmosphere: Oxygen Atmosphere
planet-blue-atmosphere
2.4 Billion Years Ago
2.4 BYA to about 540 MYA
The First True Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes divided labor within single-celled life, featuring a true nucleus and membrane-bound organelles. From them branched plants, fungi, and animals.
2.4 Billion Years Ago (+/- 300 million years)
Bacterial Endosymbiosis: Origin of Eukaryotes
About 2 billion years ago, bacteria are added to cells and that group leads to eukaryotes. You are a walking chimera ecosystem made of an Archaea host and trillions of Bacterial power-plants.
~2.4 Billion years ago (+/- 100 million)
Bacteria are added to eukaryote ancestor cells
Protozoa Evolve
About 2 billion years ago, eukaryotic cells are defined by a membrane-bound nucleus and internal organelles. Their emergence created the structural foundation for complex life.
2 Billion Years Ago (+/- 100 million years)
Nucleus and internal organelles
LECA: Likely Sexual Reproduction
LECA is the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor. LECA reproduced sexually pushing the mixing of DNA back before 1.75 billion years ago.
~1.75 billion years ago (+/- 50 million)
Last Eukaryote Common Ancestor
Monodnaviria
About 1.75 billion years ago, Monodnaviria evolved as "runaway" genetic loops (plasmids) that stole structural proteins from other viruses to become independent, single-stranded DNA parasites.
~1.75 Billion years ago (+/- 200 million)
single-stranded DNA viruses
Plant Ancestors Split from Animal and Fungi Ancestors
Plant cells feature chloroplasts, a cellulose cell wall, and a large central vacuole for holding water. They also have plasmodesmata, tiny channels between cells. And of course, photosynthetic chlorophyll.
1.65 Billion Yeas Ago (+/- 50 million)
Life that later leads to these kingdoms separates.
Bikonts: Plant Ancestors Split Off Again (Front-Pull Pioneers)
About 1.55 billion years ago, bikonts evolved two flagella to pull themselves forward.
~1.55 Billion Years Ago (+/- 5 million)
Two "Anterior" Flagella - plant rowboats
Red-Green Algae Ancestors Split
Modern red and green algae share a common ancestor about 1.5 billion years ago. The green algae branch gave rise to plants about 475 mya.
1.5 Billion Years Ago (+/- 100 million years)
Chloroplast refinement, chlorophyll variants
Unikonts: Single-Motor flagella Reform
By 1.3 billion years ago, our animal-fungi ancestor, the Unikonts, stopped using two pulling flagella and narrowed it down to one pushing one.
~1.3 Billion Years Ago (+/- 100 million)
Transition to a Single Flagellum
Retroviruses (within Riboviria)
About 1.25 billion years ago, Retroviruses emerged by transforming "jumping genes" into infectious agents, mastering the ability to rewrite a host’s permanent genetic code.
~1.25 Billion years ago (+/- 200 million)
Stitch themselves permanently into the host’s genome
Intracellular Flow and Nutrient Exchange
Eukaryote cells evolve cytoplasmic streaming and cytoskeleton-guided transport systems to circulate nutrients, organelles, and waste internally.
~1.2 Billion Years Ago (+/- 300 million)
Cytoplasmic streaming and vesicle transport
Opisthokonts: True Posterior Flagellum
By 1.15 billion years ago, our animial-fungi ancestor evolve a true posterior flagellum. Single-celled animal sperm has a lineage back to this ancestor.
~1.15 Billion Years Ago (+/- 50 million)
12 unique amino acids + glycogen energy storage + True Posterior Flagellum
Oogamy: Early Gamete Specialization Before Animals
Sexual reproduction predates animals, and differentiated sperm–egg systems evolved in single-celled eukaryotic lineages long before animals emerged.
~1.1 Billion Years Ago (inferred, +/- 100 million)
Small motile gamete and larger nutrient-rich gamete
Giant viruses (within Varidnaviria)
A billion years ago, some viruses turned into genetic junkyard collectors and swelled to nearly a micrometer across.
~1 Billion years ago (+/- 200 million)
Extreme genetic theft
Fungi Ancestors Split Off: (aquatic Holomycota)
By 950 million years ago, fungi ancestors used growth over motion to survive.
~950 Million Years Ago (+/- 50 million)
External digestion + chitin cell walls
Animal Ancestors Split Off: Cadherin Cell Glue (Holozoa)
This image shows three plausible body plans for early holozoans, ancestors of animals. A loose spherical cluster suggests early cadherin-based adhesion. The pear-shaped flagellated cell reflects choanoflagellate-like forms. The amoeboid shape represents flexible, crawling types.
~750 Million Years Ago (+/- 50 million)
First Multicellular Animals
640 million years ago, the first multicell animals were almost certainly just collections of types of cells and reproduced.
640 Million Years Ago (+/- 20 million)
Stable cell adhesion and tissue specialization
Presentient Animals Emerge: The Ediacaran Prelude
635-600 Million Years Ago
Proto-brain; Pre-brain memory; Presentient.
First Animal Egg Layers
~620 Million Years Ago (+/- 20 million)
tissue-level reproduction
Chemoreception: Taste and Smell Emerge
600 Mya
First True Fungi: Chytrids (and living fossils)
Chytrid-like fungi, reproducing with single posterior flagellated spores, are present in the fossil record by ~600 MYA.
~600 Million years ago (+/- 20 million)
Sperm-like reproduction to spread seed to new soil.
Bilaterian Split: The Origin of Agency
The significant idea of the bilaterian body plan is directionality. By moving from a radial (circle) to a bilateral (line) symmetry, life transitioned from a passive state of "being" to an active state of "doing."
590 Million Years Ago (± 10 million)
Agency and directional action with intent.
Mold Spores Emerge
A mold spore is usually just one cell, but it carries the power to begin again. Released into the world, these tiny travelers helped fungi spread across early Earth and become some of nature’s great recyclers.
~590 Million years ago (+/- 30 million)
First True Animals – Comb Jellyfish
Jellyfish moving through water
555 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million)
Nerve nets and muscle cells
True Circulatory Systems: Blood Veins
545 Million Years Ago (after through-gut digestion: mouth/anus)
Circulatory fluid transport (veins)
Vision Emerges: The Pre-fish Chordates
540 Mya
Vision Emerges; Proto-Simple Brains; Pre-vertebrate Cord.
Paleozoic Era: The Age of Synapsids
The Paleozoic era is marked by the rise of complex animal life 538.8 million years ago. It ends with the end-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago. A volcanic cascade global warming event.
From 538.8 to 251.902 million years ago.
287 Million years: From burrowing to extinction.
First Vertebrates
530 Million BCE
530 to 520 Million Years Ago
Earliest Known Hunter
520 Million Years Ago
First Simple Brains; Proto-Short-Term Memory; Simple Sentience.
Simple Sentience Settles: Haikouichthys
520 Million BCE
Simple Brains; Proto-Short-Term Memory; Simple Sentience.
Simple Cephalopod Sentience Evolves
510 Million BCE
Not a fish ancestor, not our ancestor.
Hyphae break rock
The conquest of land wasn’t driven by size — it was driven by threads. By 480 million years ago, hyphae began breaking into rock to make land habitable.
~480 MYA (+/- 20 million)
Filamentous growth (hyphae); terrestrial colonization
Embryophytes: First True Plants
First land plants.
470 Million Years Ago (+/- 10 million)
Early water transport
Asaphid trilobite
An Ordovician asaphid-like trilobite from an ancient shallow sea, broad-bodied and well armored, representing one of the many early arthropod forms that flourished long before life moved onto land.
Lived from 470 to 445 million years ago.
Fungal Underground Alliance
By 450 million years ago, fungi and plants started a rich dirt alliance. Forests grew because fungi fed them. Plants exchanged sugars for fungi phosphors and minerals.
~450 Million years ago (+/- 10 million)
Arbuscular mycorrhizae (Glomeromycota symbiosis)
Keratin Genes & the Rise of Scales in Fish
425 Million Years Ago
425 MYA (+/- 15 Million Years)
Fungal Great Split: Ascomycota & Basidiomycota
By 425 million years ago, fungi split into ascomycota and basidiomycota. Ascomycota gave rise to yeasts, truffles, and many molds. Basidiomycota gave rise mushrooms, puffballs, and bracket fungi.
~425 Million years ago (+/- 25 million)
Ascomycota and Basidiomycota Split
Fungal Giants of the Devonian
By 420 million years ago, the first giants on land were not plants — but fungi. Giant fungi as tall as 30 feet (9 meters) thrived during the Devonian
~420 MYA (+/- 20 million)
Large upright fungal structures (e.g., Prototaxites)
Oldest Known Air Breather
414 Million BCE
Lungs Evolve: Lobe-Finned Fish and the Lungfish Ancestor
Living fossil fish, Coelacanth.
400 Million BCE
First True Trees: Spore Reproduction
385 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million years)
Secondary growth wood and deep roots
The Senegal Bichir: A Living Fossil
An early-diverging ray-finned fish whose lobed pectoral fins and paired lungs reflect an ancient branch of bony fish evolution.
~380 million years ago (± 15 million)
Air breathing lungs and lobed pectoral fins
Long-Term Memory Evolves: Tiktaalik
375 Mya
Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Simple Sentience.
Land Hearing Emerges: Amphibians
370 Mya
Land Hearing Emerges; Yet Larger Brains.
Reptile Amniotic Eggs
Corn snake hatching, Pantherophis guttatus guttatus, also know as red rat snake
318 Million BCE
Conifers branch off
Early Conifers (Late Carboniferous, ~308 ± 5 mya). Woody gymnosperms with organized cones and drought adaptations.
~308 million years ago (+/- 5 million)
Naked seeds in cones (gymnosperm reproduction)
First Land Herbivore: Tyrannoroter heberti
Tyrannoroter heberti (≈307 million years ago). One of the earliest known plant-experimenting tetrapods, Tyrannoroter heberti hints that land herbivory began not with giants, but with small, evolutionary pioneers over 300 million years ago.
307 million years ago
2026 Discovery Pushing Back Herbivores
Stem Selachians: Modern Sharks LCA
Note the torpedo-shaped body and sweeping tail — a hydrodynamic design that would define sharks for hundreds of millions of years: tapered head, dorsal fin, and powerful tail.
~300 million years ago (± 10 million years)
Proto-Play
300 million years ago
±20 million years
Early Complex Sentience Emerges: Dimetrodon
By about 280 million years ago, Dimetrodon was one of the best-known predators of the Early Permian. It stalked rivers and floodplains alongside caseid synapsids, large amphibians like Eryops, and a landscape of Calamites, Sigillaria, ferns, and early seed plants.
295 Million BCE
Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Early Complex Sentience.
Ginkgo biloba-like Trees: True Leaves
270 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million years)
Efficient vascular networks inside leaves
Ginkgo biloba — A Living Fossil in My Backyard
~270 million years ago (± 20 million years)
Increased light capture area
Plate Tectonics
By dating rocks and fossils scientists can document the movement of the continents over time. (Public domain image, United States Geological Survey.)
Circa 260 Million BCE
The Synapsid World of the Late Permian
A Late Permian river world about 255 million years ago, where synapsids still ruled the land. A gorgonopsid stalks near the water while dicynodonts gather at the river’s edge and pareiasaurs move through the floodplain, alongside amphibians, large insects, and hardy pre-flowering plants.
255 Million years ago.
Pine Needles Evolve
252.5 Million years ago (+/- 500,000 years)
Needle morphology and resin canals
The P-T Extinction
The Permian-Triassic extinction was not just the end of many species. It was a planetary reset that destroyed the old synapsid-dominated world and opened the door for the archosaur line that would later give rise to dinosaurs.
251,902,000 years ago (+/- 900 years).
Mesozoic Era: Age of Dinosaurs
The Mesozoic era starts with the end-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago. It ends the reign of dinosaurs with the K–Pg extinction 66 million years ago.
From 251.902 to 66.0 million years ago.
186 Million years: Dinosauria reigned from extinction to extinction.
Fungal Survivors of Extinction
The mass extinction at 252 million years ago marks the Permian to Triassic boundary. Fungi are not just participants in ecosystems — they help reset the ground.
~252 MYA (Permian–Triassic boundary)
Massive fungal proliferation after extinction
Archosauria Diverge Within Reptiles
LCA of crocodiles and birds — the larger archosaur branch that later gave rise to crocodilians, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, and birds.
~250 million years ago (+/- 10 million)
LCA of crocodilians and birds (pterosaurs & dinosauria)
Bird-line Archosaurs: Asilisaurus kongwe (within Ornithodira)
245 Million Years Ago
Dinosauromorphs Emerge: Erect hind-limb posture leads to birds and dinosaurs.
Bird-line Archosaur: Nyasasaurus parringtoni
Nyasasaurus is a late bird-line archosaur from just before Dinosauria clearly emerge. It sits on the dinosaur side of Ornithodira, but its exact placement remains uncertain: some analyses place it within Dinosauria, while others place it just outside the group, near other bird-line archosaurs.
243 Million Years Ago
Strengthened hip and shoulder architecture
XX/XY Sex System Emerges: A Tale of Mammalian Evolution
240 Million Years Ago
Marasuchus lilloensis
"<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50251453" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Marasuchus NT small</a>" by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:NobuTamura" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nobu Tamura email:nobu.tamura@yahoo.com http://spinops.blogspot.com/ http://paleoexhibit.blogspot.com/</a> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>
240 Million Years Ago
Elongated hind limbs, better running, reduced forelimbs
Dinosauria Emerge: True Dinosaurs!
Dinosauria emerge from a single population of a species about 238 million years ago. This population will lead to all dinosaurs and birds including T.Rex, Brontosaurus, and Triceratops.
238 Million years ago (+/- 5 million)
Fully open hip socket (perforated acetabulum)
Pterosaurs Diverge From Dinosaur Ancestors (within Ornithodira)
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to conquer the air, evolving a unique "finger-wing" anatomy that allowed them to dominate the skies for 160 million years.
~237 million years ago (+/- 2 million)
Pterosauria line: Not in dinosauria (split first).
Theropod Line Diverges Within Dinosaria (from Saurischia)
Theropods were the agile, sharp-toothed dinosaur branch that refined the classic predator body plan. They stood fully upright on two legs, balanced with long tails, used grasping hands, and carried specialized skulls and recurved teeth built for active hunting. Over time, this branch produced everything from small early predators to giant hunters—and eventually birds.
~233 million years ago (±2 million years)
Ancestor of T.Rex and bird-line.
Sauropodomorph Line Diverges Within Dinosaria (from Saurischia)
Sauropodomorphs, in their early forms, were lightly built, often partly bipedal, with long necks, small heads, leaf-shaped teeth, and grasping hands.
~232 million years ago (±2 million years)
Ancestor to the sauropods like brontosaurus.
Ornithischians Diverge Within Dinosauria “Bird Hipped”
Ornithodira is the broader branch that includes dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs.
~229 million years ago (±4 million years)
LCA of Pterosaurs and Birds (pterosaurs & dinosauria).
Eoraptor lunensis.
A speculative reconstruction of Eoraptor lunensis. Eoraptor reminds us that classification is not always neat at the beginning of a lineage. Early dinosaurs can be hard to classify because of a mix of traits.
229 Million Years Ago (± 1.5 million)
Platypus–Ape Common Ancestor
225 million years ago (±5 million years)
When dinosaurs rose, our line quietly began.
Pterosaurs Emerge
Pterosaurs were not dinosaurs but do share a common ancestor. They are a distinct group of flying reptiles that emerged in the Late Triassic.
215 Million years ago (+/- 5 million)
Morganucodon: An Early Mammalian
203 Million BCE (+/- 3 million)
Differentiated teeth and true mammalian jaw
Early Play Evolves in Mammals
Play evolved as one of the group survival traits. Lower play abilities evolved in mammals like rodents about 190 million years ago. Higer play abilities evolved in mammals like cats about 80 million years ago.
190 Million Years Ago (+/- 10 million years)
Parental care, brain plasticity, extended juvenile period
Mammals: First Live Births
185 Million BCE
Placental nutrient transfer (in placentals)
Pangaea Splitting Starts Splitting Evolution
When Pangaea began to split around 190 million years ago, the world’s connected landmasses slowly turned into separate evolutionary arenas: vicariance. What had once been one giant stage for life became a set of growing barriers, helping drive the rise of distinct northern and southern lineages.
180 Million years ago (+/- 5 million)
Pangaea Super Continent Breakup
Diplodocid LCA: The Age of Giant Necked Sauropods
The common ancestor of the diplodocids is still unknown, but it gave rise to several distinct giant-necked forms. In Diplodocus, notice the long, narrow skull. In Apatosaurus, note the deeper, more robust skull and heavier build. Finally, in the slimmer Brontosaurus, notice the similar shape but somewhat lighter, less massive form.
~178 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million)
Proceratosaurus (T.Rex ancestor)
Proceratosaurus had the same general tyrannosaur-style look: a big head, long tail, strong hind legs, short forelimbs, and a built-for-biting predator shape: D-shaped front teeth and a crest on top of the skull.
Lived from 169 to 164 million years ago.
Not a bird ancestor, but part of the theropod mix.
Bashanosaurus primitivus
Bashanosaurus primitivus is one of the earliest known stegosaurs and a strong candidate for representing an early form close to the ancestry of later plated dinosaurs like Stegosaurus.
~168 million years ago.
Stegosaurus ancestor
Diplodocus
Diplodocus was the longer, slimmer, more stretched-out sauropod, famous for its especially long neck and whiplike tail. It is one of the longest land animals and generally more slender in build.
Lived ~161 to 146 million years ago.
28–33.5 m long: longer, whiplike, slimmer.
Brontosaurus
Brontosaurus, in the revived interpretation, looks broadly similar to Apatosaurus but is argued to be less massive and less robust. A bit lighter-built overall.
Lived ~156 to 145 million years ago.
20 to 22 meters (65 to 72 feet).
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus was the heavier, more robust sauropod — more muscular-looking, with a thicker, lower-set neck and a bulkier frame.
Lived ~156 to 151 million years ago.
21 to 23 meters (69 to 75 feet): Heavier, more muscular.
Avialae: The Bird Line Diverges (Theropoda)
Around 155 million years ago, an early avialan was probably already broadly Archaeopteryx-like, yet still unmistakably dinosaurian: small feathered theropod with teeth, claws, and a long bony tail.
155 Million years ago (+/- 5 million)
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is the classic plated dinosaur most people picture: large back plates, a small head, and a spiked tail used for defense. It lived late in the Jurassic
Lived 152 to 145 million years ago.
First True Bird: Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx reminds us that major transformations often happen gradually, with old traits and new traits living side by side for a long time. The story of birds began with their dinosaur past.
149 Million years ago (+/- 1 million)
Modern Trees: Modern Leaves
145 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million years)
Rapid vascular transport
Confuciusornithiformes Birds Emerge (Now Extinct)
Weird carryovers and side experiments: clawed wings, elaborate ribbon-like tail feathers, and a mix of advanced beak features with a still primitive dinosaurian body.
~131 Million years ago.
Extinct bird line (clawed wings, elaborate ribbon-like tail feathers)
Enantiornithes Birds Emerge (Now Extinct)
Enantiornithes were one of the most successful early bird branches of the Cretaceous, but unlike Confuciusornithiformes, they generally kept their teeth and often looked a bit more like small, sharp-faced bird-dinosaurs than beaked proto-birds.
~131 Million years ago.
Extinct bird line (clawed wings, teeth)
Complex Sentience Settles: Eomaia scansoria
circa 125 Million BCE
Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Likely Proto Self-aware.
Animal Vocabulary: Dozens of Words
Eomaia scansoria in their natural environment from about 125 million years ago. These early mammals likely lived in a lush, prehistoric forest setting and had a vocabulary, or signaling, range into the dozens of words, well, gestures.
125 Million Years Ago
Expanded Limbic System, reward circuitry
The Last Stegosaurus: Wuerhosaurus
Wuerhosaurus was one of the last known stegosaurs, carrying the classic plated-and-spiked body plan into the Early Cretaceous of what is now China.
110 Million years ago (+/- 10 million)
Argentinosaurus
Argentinosaurus shows how far the sauropod body plan could go. By the Late Cretaceous, some titanosaurs had become the largest land animals known, turning the long-necked dinosaur design into one of evolution’s most extreme achievements.
Lived from 97 to 93.5 million years ago.
Redwood Lineage Emerges
This picture was taken in Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve near Guerneville, California. When Melissa and I stood under Parson Jones on February 2, 2026, we were standing beneath a long lineage that began while Tyrannosaurus still walked the Earth.
~95 Million Years Ago (+/- 5 million)
Tall, fire-resistant, long-lived conifer specialization.
Zuniceratops
A smaller, earlier horned dinosaur that helps show the transition toward the larger, more elaborate ceratopsids.
Lived from about 90 to 89 million years ago.
Triceratops ancestor
Hesperornithiformes Birds Emerge (Now Extinct)
~90 Million years ago.
Neornithes (Crown Birds) emerge
Three branches of modern birds evolved from within neornithes: Struthio camelus (the ostrich), Gallus gallus (chickens), and Passer domesticus (the house sparrow is a good one).
~90 Million years ago (+/- 10 million).
Pteranodons Emerge
Pteranodon was one of the great soaring pterosaurs of the Late Cretaceous, but it was only one branch in a much larger pterosaur story.
~88 million years ago (+/- 4 million)
Palaeognathae Birds Emerge
Palaeognathae is the living bird branch that includes ostriches, emus, cassowaries, rheas, kiwis, and tinamous.
~85 Million years ago (+/- 10 million).
Ground birds: ostriches, emus, tinamous, etc.
Appendix
80 Million BCE
Higher Play Evolves in Social Mammals
Play evolved as one of the group survival traits. Lower play abilities evolved in mammals like rodents about 190 million years ago. Higer play abilities evolved in mammals like cats about 80 million years ago.
80 Million Years Ago (+/- 10 million years)
Enlarged neocortex
Galloanserae Birds Emerge (from Neognathae)
Galloanserae is the living bird branch that includes landfowl and waterfowl: chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, geese, and swans.
~80 Million years ago (+/- 8 million).
Fowl: chickens, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, etc.
Neoaves Birds Emerge (from Neognathae)
~78 Million years ago (+/- 4 million).
Led to common birds: crows, sparrows, robins, hawks, owls, hummingbirds, etc.
Styracosaurus
Styracosaurus was a striking horned ancient cousin of Triceratops, showing that ceratopsids branched into different styles long before the dinosaurs came to an end.
Lived ~76 to 75 million years ago.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
T. rex lived in western North America about 69 to 66 million years ago. All dinosaurs, except potentially three lines of bires, went extinct 66 million years ago, when the Chicxulub asteroid hit.
Lived from ~69 to 66.04 million years ago.
Triceratops
Three facial horns, broad frill, and powerful four-legged body. It was one of the last great non-avian dinosaurs and is the classic fully developed ceratopsid most people picture when they think of horned dinosaurs. Lived from about 68 to 66 million years ago.
Lived from ~68 to 66.04 million years ago.
The Last Pterosaurs
By the end of the Cretaceous, the surviving pterosaurs were mostly advanced, toothless pterodactyloids.
66.04 Million years ago (K–Pg extinction)
The Last Ornithischians
The last ornithischians still displayed four striking body plans at the end of the Cretaceous: horned ceratopsians, duck-billed hadrosaurs, armored ankylosaurs, and dome-headed pachycephalosaurs.
66.04 Million years ago (K–Pg extinction)
The Last Theropods
The last theropods still ranged from giant apex predators to smaller runners and hunters, while birds overhead carried the theropod branch beyond the extinction event.
66.04 Million years ago (K–Pg extinction)
The Last Sauropods
By the end, sauropods had narrowed to one last great branch—titanosaurs—but that branch still held real variety.
66.04 Million years ago (K–Pg extinction)
Toothed Birds Go Extinct
At the K–Pg boundary, birds were already diverse, but most of that Late Cretaceous variety died out, leaving only a small toothless slice of the bird world to continue.
66.04 Million years ago (K–Pg extinction)
The K-Pg Extinction
The K–Pg extinction was a sudden global catastrophe that ended the long dominance of non-avian dinosaurs and opened the way for mammals and modern birds to expand into a transformed world.
66.04 million years ago (+/- 900 years).
Cenozoic Era: Age of Mammals & Birds
The Cenozoic era starts with the K–Pg extinction 66 million years ago. That event marks the sudden end of the reign of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals and birds.
66.04 million years ago to the present.
66 Million years: From extinction to society.
Purgatorius — Earliest known proto-primate.
Purgatorius unio, from the Late Paleocene of North America, believed to be the earliest primate, pencil drawing, digital coloring. © N. Tamura (CC BY-SA)
66 Million BCE
Grasping hand and flexible ankles
Opposable Thumb Emerges
60 Million Years Ago
Plesiadapis: First fruit-insect eaters.
56 Million BCE (+/- 2 million)
Enhanced color perception, Diet-driven brain growth
Opening of the North Atlantic Ocean
56 Million BCE
Early Self-Awareness: Miacis
"<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81286073" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Miacis cropped</a>" by Remove 'cropped' from file name and see original file is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>
50 Million BCE
Territory memory, where things are, hippocampus development
Ape Thumb Evolves
Gorilla on right, human, then orangutan. Orangutan-like hands evolved about 30 mya, gorilla-like hands evolved about 12 mya, and human-like hands evolved about 3 mya.
32 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 million)
Early Intelligence Emerges: Aegyptopithecus zeuxis
30 Million BCE
Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Semi Self-awareness settles in.
Baboons Branch Off: Old World Monkeys
Our last tails! The last common ancestor with humans and old-world monkeys lived around 29 million years ago.
27 Million Years Ago (+/- 2 million)
Large neocortex, Coalition politics emerge
Genus Proconsul (Self-Awareness Settles)
20 Million Year Ago (+/- 2 Million Years)
Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Maybe Self-aware; Likely Simple EI.
Gibbons Branch Off: Genus Hylobates
Today, there are about 20 species of gibbons which belong to the family Hylobatidae, which is further divided into four genera: Hylobates (the largest group, including the white-handed gibbon), Hoolock (hoolock gibbons), Nomascus (crested gibbons), and Symphalangus (the siamang).
17 Million Years Ago, ± 1 million
Long-distance pair bonding, Fine motor control
Animal Vocabulary: Thousands of Words (The Great Apes)
Rudapithecus hungaricus in their natural environment from about 11 million years ago. These early great apes likely lived in a lush forest setting and had a vocabulary, or signaling, range into the thousands of words, well, gestures, grunts, and screams in various contexts.
circa 15 Million Years Ago
Inferior frontal gyrus homologues, Mirror neuron systems
Orangutans Branch Off: Genus Sivapithecus
Emerged 12.5 to 12 mya, extinct 8.5 to 7 mya.
Complex Brains; Long-Term Memory; Complex Sentience; Self-aware; Complex EI.
Gorillas Branch Off: Genus Nakalipithecus
Emerged 10 mya, extinct 9.8 to 9 mya.
Ancestral Hominids (us, pre-split)
Emergence of the Chimpanzee Family
Bonobo chimpanzees in the wilderness in Democratic Republic of the Congo
2 Million BCE
Hominids, Not Us (different branch)
Genus Orangutans
Orangutan standing
400,000 Years Ago
Black mold
The dark mold in your shower is part of the same ancient mold story — not always the exact same species, but certainly the same fungal world.
~20 Million Years Ago (+/- 10 million)