Gzhelian life

Meganeura (Ancient Greek: μέγα (large) + νευρόν (vein or nerve)) is a genus of extinct insects from the Late Carboniferous (approximately 300 million years ago). It is a member of the extinct order Meganisoptera (also known as griffenflies), which are closely related to and resemble dragonflies and damselflies (with dragonflies, damselflies and meganisopterans being part of the broader group Odonatoptera). While various species of Meganeura have been named, only one is now considered valid: the type species, M. monyi.

Erpetonyx is an extinct genus of bolosaurian parareptile from the Gzhelian stage of the Carboniferous period, with a single known species: Erpetonyx arsenaultorum. It is known from a single articulated and mostly complete specimen from Prince Edward Island in Canada. Phylogenetics has predicted that parareptiles first evolved in the Carboniferous, parallel to eureptiles ("true reptiles"). However, Hylonomus, the oldest eureptile known from fossil evidence, lived millions of years before parareptiles appeared in the fossil record. The discovery of Erpetonyx helped to shorten this gap between pa