Lepidodendron  Calamites

 
Calamites were medium sized trees that grew in the
Carboniferous era. They had hollow stems, and the leaves
Also known as Scale tree, Lepidodendron was a part of the
and the branches were in whorls. They also reproduced
coral forest area. The name Lepidodendron comes from
through the formation of spores.
the Greek lepido, scale, and dendron, tree. It was a giant
herb that grew up to 100 feet sometimes. The branches
were conical in shape. They did not have seeds. Instead,
they reproduced through Spores. By the end of the
Mesozoic era, these plants died out.
Archaefructus Cooksonia

Archaefructus are considered to be one of the oldest

flowering plants. They belonged to the  Cretaceous age
and were densely available in the northern regions of
China. These flowering plants, however, lacked sepals or
petals, and their reproductive organs were based on the
Cooksonia were primarily land plants known to have
stem of the plant.
existed on earth about 425 million years ago. They thrived
in the present regions of Australia and Britain. They were
small and lacked leaves, flowers and roots. They only had
slender stalks.
Rhynia  Silphium

Rhynia were vascular plants that existed hundreds of

years ago and belonged to the bryophytes category of
Silphium was one of the important plants that flourished
plants. They were bisexual in nature and grew close to the
during the Greek and Egyptian dynasties. It was a primary
other vascular plants.
medicinal plant that was used for treating many diseases.
In many of the European regions, coins containing this
plant were discovered, indicating that it was an important
plant.
Archaeamphora Palaeoaldrovanda

Archaeamphora was a carnivorous Pitcher plant that was

found in various regions of the present day China. The
plant grew up to 2 inches, and two bag-like structures
were used by the plant to trap the prey.
Palaeoaldrovanda Splendens was also a carnivorous plant
belonging to the family of Aldrovanda. It was found in the
regions of Czech Republic in modern Europe, and fossils of
its seeds were discovered years ago indicating its
mechanism of propagation was through germination of
seeds.
Pluchea glutinosa Valerianella Affinis

Pluchea Glutinosa was a rare flowering plant that belonged to the

family of Asteraceae. It was only found in one country – Yemen.
Valerianella affinis was also found only in Yemen and it belonged
to Valerianaceae family.
Woolly Mammoth Quangga
Ancestors of the present day elephants, woolly mammoths are
included in the list of extinct species that used to exist in the cold, A quagga one of the most fascinating organisms indeed was a half-

snowy areas of North America. Their extinction began back in 10, zebra and half-horse. Belonging to a subspecies of the plain zebra,

000 BC and their species completely disappeared by 8,000 BC. The a quagga possessed the same stripped appearance at the front

main cause was contributed by the natural factors. When the ice part of its body. However, these stripes faded away towards the

age came to an end, their natural habitat was lost and they no organism's mid-section, leading to a completely plain rear.

longer had the chilly cold environment suitable to their survival. Moreover, unlike the black and white plain zebra, quagga was

Moreover, the vegetation which these animals used to feed on also brown in color with dark brown stripes.

disappeared because of the change in climate, leading to the

inevitable death of these creatures. The prehistoric man also
contributed a little to their extinction by overhunting.

The animal went through extinction quite recently in the 1880s.

The main reason was overhunting of this beautiful creature for its
valuable hide as well as meat.
Caspian Tiger Dodo

This awe-inspiring creature is another of the unfortunate Another victim of overhunting is Dodo. It was a flightless bird
organisms which disappeared quite recently, mainly due to its which used to be found in large numbers in Mauritius. The bird had
biggest predator man. Also known as the Persian Tiger, it used to no predators on the islands, until European sailors discovered this
exist in the forests of Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, easy to catch prey. Moreover, along with humans, other organisms
Tajikistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Turkmenistan. including rats used to feed on the eggs of this bird. As a result,
A land reclamation project was undertaken when the twentieth Dodo reached its extinction in 1681.
century began, clearing away the land which was house to the
Caspian tiger. A large number of the animal members was also
killed as a part of the reclamation project. On the other hand, a
loss of habitat resulted in the disappearance of the rest.
Check out this interesting information about the Caspian tigers.
Irish Elk (5,200 B.C.)
Irish Elk evolved around 400,000 years ago, and died out
approximately 5,000 years ago. It is likely that hunting by
humans contributed to their extinction. However, the
retreating ice would have allowed different plants to flourish,
which could have led to a lack of dietary minerals. In
particular, a good supply of calcium was needed to grow the
animal's massive antler
Japanese Honshu Wolf (1905)
Canis lupus hodophilax - The Honshu wolf lived on the
Japanese islands of Shikoku, Hyushu and Honshu. It was the
smallest species of wolf in the canis lupus family, growing to
about 3 feet in length, and 12 inches at the shoulder. After
rabies was introduced to the Honshu wolf population in 1732
(either deliberately or through domesticated dogs), the
disease killed off a large number of animals, and made them
more aggressive towards humans. Given their increased
contact with humans following the deforestation of their
natural habitat, their aggression led them being prolifically
hunted until their extinction in 1905.
 Pinta Island Tortoise (2012) Steller's Sea Cow (1768)

Hydrodamalis gigas - Steller's Sea Cow was a huge, plant-

eating, sea mammal similar to the manatee in appearance.
However, it could grow up to 9 meters long (30 feet). It was
Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii - The Pinta Island tortoise was a
discovered by Georg Wilhelm Steller, and within three
subspecies of giant tortoise that lived on the Galapagos
decades was hunted to extinction by Europeans. This owed
Islands. It was hunted prolifically for food in the 19th century,
to its complete tameness, and its presence in shallow waters
and its habitat was destroyed in the 1950s when goats were
where it would feed on reeds. It lived in coastal regions of the
brought to the island. Efforts were made to conserve the
north Pacific ocean, and became extinct in 1768 after being
animal, but by 1971 only one remained: the famous
hunted for food, fat for oil lamps, and skin to line boats. These
Lonesome George. Despite attempts to mate other tortoises
sailors and hunters followed Steller's route to find the animal.
with George, none of the eggs hatched, and he died in 2012,
the last of his kind.

Smilodon (10,000 B.C.)
The Smilodon mainly hunted larger prey such as bison, deer and
small mammoths, though it was also a scavenger, suggesting it
was a social animal. It would have found smaller, nimbler prey
more difficult, and this may have contributed to its demise.
However, the Smilodon's extinction coincides with the arrival of
humans who were known to have hunted many native species.
Great Auk (1852)
Pinguinus impennis - The Great Auk was a flightless bird that
resembled a present day penguin. Like the penguin, it was a
powerful swimmer, stored fat for warmth, nested in dense
colonies and mated for life, however, it also had a heavy
hooked beak. It could grow to almost 3 feet in height and
lived in the north Atlantic ocean until its extinction in the 19th
century. Beginning in the 16th century, Europeans hunted the
Great Auk to acquire its treasured down feathers for pillows.
The bird was later hunted in North America for fishing bait,
and commonly endured atrocities such as being skinned and
burned alive for feathers and food. After it became rare,
museums and collectors desired their own (dead) specimens,
finally forcing the Great Auk to extinction.
Largest insect
Little Barrier Island giant weta
The giant weta native to the Little Barrier Island of New
Zealand (Deinacrida heteracantha) proudly bears the name of
the heaviest and largest adult insect in the world, the record
weight for one being of 71 grammes or 2.5 oz and more than
8.5 centimeters or 3.4 inches in length. A relative of the
grasshopper and of the common house cricket, the giant weta
is nowadays a vulnerable species.
Smallest insect
Dicopomorpha echmepterygis
Fairyflies are tiny members of the wasp family and the
smallest family of insects known to science. Dicopomorpha
echmepterygis is a fairyfly native to Costa Rica, the males of
the species being no more than 0.14 mm in length, about the
same size—if not smaller—than the single-celled
paramecium we normally find in lake waters. This species
feeds on the eggs of other insects.
Longest insect migration Fastest flying insect
Globe skimmer Southern Giant Darner

This species of dragonfly (Austrophlebia costalis) has been

clocked to a speed of 35 mph, which makes it the fastest
The Globe Skimmer (Pantala flavescens) has recently been
insect in the world in terms of flight speed. Although there are
found to be the insect with the longest migration of all insects,
previous claims that it would top 60 mph, most experts
its journey dwarfing that of the famous monarch butterfly.
disagree on their veracity. Nevertheless, there are many who
Using the monsoon, these dragonflies travel from India to
consider that the title of fastest insect remains disputed
East and Southern Africa and back again, which adds up to
among dragonflies, hawk moths, and horseflies, with various
between 14,000 and 18,000 kilometers. Furthermore, the
unverified measurements circulating about each one of these
long migration of these insects renders them as an accessible
species.
food source for migratory birds, which means that if anything
happens to this species, many species of birds would find it
very difficult, if not impossible, to perform their annual
migrations.
Most feared insect
Migratory locust
Locusta migratoria, or the migratory locust, is arguably the
most feared species of insect known by humankind. Although
the mosquito is responsible for the most human deaths, the
locust is the one insect that has made men cry in horror
throughout history. Although locust swarms are rare
nowadays, locust plagues still occur in some parts of the
world, as was the case in Madagascar, last year, or the 2004
locust outbreak that affected several countries in West and
North Africa that resulted in losses of around $2.5 billion in
terms of agricultural devastation.
Most resilient insect
German cockroach
I suppose few people will be surprised by the title of this
entry. I mean, everyone knows the allegations that
cockroaches are capable of survival nuclear fallout and so
on… Therefore, in hopes of raising at least a few eyebrows, I
would like to mention a case in which a German cockroach
nymph (Blattaria germanica) managed to live inside another
very hostile environment: a human colon. The nymph
probably arrived there after having been inadvertently
swallowed by the 52-year woman while she was eating, and
somehow managed to survive the digestive enzymes of her
stomach.
Rarest insect Loudest insect
Lord Howe Island stick insect Water boatman

This rather large member of the stick insect family lives on A species of cicada, the water boatman (Micronecta scholtzi) is the
the Lord Howe Island found between Australia and New loudest animal on Earth for its size. Although the entire cicada
Zealand. It is also an example of what biologists refer to as family is famous for their loudness (with some species managing to
the Lazarus effect, namely when a species is thought to be sing in almost 120db), the water boatman, at only two millimeters
extinct, but it is found again afterwards. The current in length manages to make a noise 99.2 db loud, is similar to
population of wild Dryococelus australis is thought to consist standing in the front row of a loud orchestra or listening to a
out of less than fifty individuals (24 at the moment of their jackhammer from fifty feet away.
rediscovery); with so small a population, however, the
species remains critically endangered. Nevertheless, there
are efforts to breed the Lord Howe Island stick insect, the
Melbourne Zoo of Australia managing to breed over nine
thousand individuals within their specially designated
breeding program.
The Levuana Moth
 
Coconuts are a major cash crop on the island of Fiji—and if you
happen to be an insect that feeds on coconuts, you can expect to
face extinction sooner rather than later. The Levuana
Moth, Levuana iridiscens, was the target of an intense eradication
campaign in the early 20th century, which succeeded all too well.
(Amusingly, specialists were brought in only after a substantial
cash award failed to yield a magic spell!) Most insect pests would
simply lay low or decamp to another location, but the restriction of
the Levuana Moth to a small island habitat spelled its doom. This
moth can no longer be found on Fiji, though some naturalists hope
it still survives on other Pacific islands further west .
The Lake Pedder Earthworm
A tiny worm, from a tiny lake, in a tiny country near the bottom of
the world...what could be less significant in the grand scheme of
things? The Lake Pedder Earthworm (Hypolimnus pedderensis) is
surprisingly well-documented, considering that scientists have
described only a single, injured specimen, discovered in Tasmania
in 1971. (The worm was assigned its own species thanks to its
semi-aquatic environment and lack of dorsal pores, among other
features.) Sadly, no sooner did we get to know the Lake Pedder
Earthworm than we were forced to say goodbye, as Lake Pedder
was deliberately flooded in 1972 during the building of a
hydroelectric facility.
 PROJECT IN SCIENCE

EXTINCTION OF
ANIMALS

EXTINCTION OF PLANTS

EXTINCTION OF INSECTS

KRISHA DENISE MORCILLA

9-VILLA