350 / Mesozoic
Araucarioxylon
Araucarioxylon arizonicum
Silica replaced fallen trunks to create today's multicolored petrified forest.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 225–207 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Triassic
- Geographic range
- Seasonal floodplains · Arizona, USA
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Araucarioxylon?
Araucarioxylon (Araucarioxylon arizonicum) was an extinct organism known from About 225–207 million years ago, with a range in Seasonal floodplains · Arizona, USA.
Life and ecology
Large conifer-like trees grew along rivers before floods transported their trunks.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Araucarioxylon disappear?
Triassic changes in climate, rivers and vegetation are possible context for the disappearance of this wood type; a specific cause is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Araucarioxylon?
Petrified trunks preserve rings and cells, though the wood form genus may include more than one biological species.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS