19 Carboniferous extinctions

Alethopteris is a prehistoric plant genus of fossil Pteridospermatophyta that developed in the Carboniferous period.

Annularia is a form taxon, applied to fossil foliage belonging to extinct plants of the genus Calamites in the order Equisetales.

Calamitaceae is an extinct family of plants related to the modern horsetails. Some members of this family attained tree-like stature during the Carboniferous Period and in Permian Period, reaching heights of up to 20 meters. The family takes its name from its principal genus Calamites.

Callipteridium is an extinct genus of pteridospermous seed ferns belonging to the family Cyclopteridaceae. These ferns existed in the Carboniferous period.

Forbesiocrinus is an extinct genus of crinoids.

Gilbertsocrinus are an extinct genus of Paleozoic stalked crinoids.

Graptolithina is a subclass of the class Pterobranchia, the members of which are known as graptolites. These organisms are colonial animals known chiefly as fossils from the Middle Cambrian through the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian). A possible early graptolite, Chaunograptus, is known from the Middle Cambrian. One analysis suggests that the pterobranch Rhabdopleura represents extant graptolites. Studies on the tubarium of fossil and living graptolites showed similarities in the basic fusellar construction and it is considered that the group most probably evolved from a Rhabdopleura-like ancestor.

Hadronectoridae is an extinct family of prehistoric coelacanth fishes which lived during the Carboniferous period. However, according to Actinistia, it could include Laugiidae, Rhabdodermatidae and not extinct Coelacanthiformes.

Holopea is an extinct genus of fossil sea snails, Paleozoic gastropod mollusks in the family Holopeidae.

Iniopterygiformes is an extinct order of chimaera-like cartilaginous fish that lived from the Devonian to Carboniferous periods. Fossils of them have been found in Montana, Indiana, Illinois, and Nebraska. The Iniopterygians are characterized by large pectoral fins, wing-like projections on their backs, mounted high on the body and denticulated bony plates on the head and jaws. Iniopterygian sharks were small, and their average length was about 18 inches (46 cm). The elongated pectoral fins had denticles along the leading edge which may have had a role in mating. They are thought to have been able to move their pectorals in a vertical plane,”flying” through the water much like modern-day flying fish.

Lepidodendrales were primitive, vascular, arborescent (tree-like) plants related to the lycopsids. Members of Lepidodendrales are the best understood of the fossil lycopsids due to the vast diversity of Lepidodendrales specimens and the diversity in which they were preserved; the extensive distribution of Lepidodendrales specimens as well as their well-preservedness lends paleobotanists exceptionally detailed knowledge of the coal-swamp giants’ reproductive biology, vegetative development, and role in their paleoecosystem. The defining characteristics of the Lepidodendrales are their secondary xylem, extensive periderm development, three-zoned cortex, rootlike appendages known as stigmarian rootlets arranged in a spiralling pattern, and megasporangium each containing a single functional megaspore that germinates inside the sporangium. Many of these different plant organs have been assigned both generic and specific names as relatively few have been found organically attached to each other. Some specimens have been discovered which indicate heights of 40 and even 50 meters and diameters of over 2 meters at the base. The massive trunks of some species branched profusely, producing large crowns of leafy twigs; though some leaves were up to 1 meter long, most were much shorter, and when leaves dropped from branches their conspicuous leaf bases remained on the surface of branches. Strobili could be found at the tips of distal branches or in an area at the top of the main trunk. The underground organs of Lepidodendrales typically consisted of dichotomizing axes bearing helically arranged, lateral appendages serving an equivalent function to roots. Sometimes called "giant club mosses", they are in fact more closely related to quillworts than to club mosses.

The Lyginopteridales were the archetypal pteridosperms: They were the first plant fossils to be described as pteridosperms and, thus, the group on which the concept of pteridosperms was first developed; they are the stratigraphically oldest-known pteridosperms, occurring first in late Devonian strata; and they have the most primitive features, most notably in the structure of their ovules. They probably evolved from a group of Late Devonian progymnosperms known as the Aneurophytales, which had large, compound frond-like leaves. The Lyginopteridales became the most abundant group of pteridosperms during Mississippian times, and included both trees and smaller plants. During early and most of middle Pennsylvanian times the Medullosales took over as the more important of the larger pteridosperms but the Lyginopteridales continued to flourish as climbing (lianescent) and scrambling plants. However, later in Middle Pennsylvanian times the Lyginopteridales went into serious decline, probably being out-competed by the Callistophytales that occupied similar ecological niches but had more sophisticated reproductive strategies. A few species continued into Late Pennsylvanian times, and in China persisted into Early Permian (Asselian) times, but then became extinct. Most evidence of the Lyginopteridales suggests that they grew in tropical latitudes of the time, in North America, Europe and China.

Macroneuropteris is a genus of Carboniferous seed plants in the order Medullosales. The genus is best known for the species Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri, a medium-size tree that was common throughout the late Carboniferous Euramerica. Three similar species, M. macrophylla, M. britannica and M. subauriculata are also included in the genus.

Moresnetiaceae is a natural family of seed ferns in the Division Pteridospermatophyta that appears in the North American and European Devonian to Carboniferous coal measures.

Neuropteris is an extinct seed fern that existed in the Carboniferous period, known only from fossils.

Pleurodictyum is an extinct genus of tabulate corals, characterized by polygonal corallites. Colonies commonly encrust hard substrates such as rocks, shells and carbonate hardgrounds.

Rhabdodermatidae is a family of prehistoric, coelacanthimorph, lobe-finned fishes which lived during the Carboniferous period.

Synziphosurina is a paraphyletic group of chelicerate arthropods previously thought to be basal horseshoe crabs (Xiphosura). It was later identified as a grade compose of various basal euchelicerates, eventually excluded form the monophyletic Xiphosura sensu stricto and only regarded as horseshoe crabs under a broader sense. Synziphosurines survived at least since early Ordovician to early Carboniferous in ages, with most species are known from the in-between Silurian strata.