At the end of the Triassic there was another mass extinction, which we will discuss in another lecture. In the oceans, ammonites recover, and the first modern corals appear. At first the worlds' oceans had a remarkably uniform fish fauna - perhaps even at the species level. This was probably a result of the end-Permian mass extinction. Reptiles were at first very rare in the oceans but they became more and more common through time.
Seed plants continue their dominance on land.
However, the Glossopteris -dominated flora of the southern continents gave way to one dominated by another peculiar seed plant, Dicroidium , and so despite the continuity of the continents, separate floras persisted through the Triassic. In the northern hemisphere, conifers apparently replace Dicroidium and the latter is nowhere to be seen. The Moenkopi Exposure of red beds of the Moenkopi Formation along Interstate 40 near Winslow, Arizona. Note the red color of most of these rocks, thought to be deposited in an arid to semi-arid coastal plain. This formation is famous for reptile footprints, especially those named Chirotherium Chirotherium is the footprint of an archosauriform, and although at least several species are probably represented they were most likely not very different from Euparkeria .