Page 45 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)

These egg-shaped
capsules produced
spores that could grow
into new plants if they
Elkinsia fell on damp ground.

Seeds were held
within these Found near hot
structures. springs about
396 million years Early life on land
Elkinsia was one ago, Aglaophyton
of the first plants to had green stems
produce seeds instead instead of leaves.
of spores, which
allowed it to grow
in drier places.

Aglaophyton

All
early
air-breathing
animals were small,
insectlike
creatures.

These veins carried
water and sap
through the plant.
Growing to 26 ft (8 m) high,
Prototaxites would have
dominated the landscape
Palaeocharinus
415 million years ago.

Palaeocharinus had
eight jointed legs and a
pair of long sensory palps,
like most modern spiders. Prototaxites

ground in damp places. Over time, plants evolved and to form large forests. Meanwhile, the
veins that allowed water and sap to flow through fungi, bacteria, and plants provided food
stems connecting their roots and leaves. This for early land animals like the millipede
allowed them to grow taller, eventually leading to Pneumodesmus. These small animals were
trees like the 20-ft- (6-m-) high Archaeopteris— in turn hunted by predators, including the
the first tree to have dense wood and true leaves spiderlike Palaeocharinus. 43

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