In Clades, sauropsids of the air are represented by birds. Today’s birds all descend from a species of flying theropod dinosaur that lived before the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event of 70 million years ago. Unlike today’s common birds, these early birds … Continue reading →

The arthropods of the air are the clade Pterygota (“winged”), known as “winged insects” and represented here by a bee, a praying mantis, and a dragonfly. The bee represents Endopterygota (“inner winged”), the massively successful clade of insects that undergo … Continue reading →

In the Clades game, the arthropods of the land are represented by tetrapulmonates (“four-lungs”), specifically an orb-weaver spider, a tarantula, and an amblypygid. Tetrapulmonates evolved from one line of trigonotarbids, the first arachnids adapted to air-breathing (about 400 million years … Continue reading →

The arthropods of the water are a crab, a lobster, and a woodlouse, together representing the most recognizable branch of crustaceans, the malacostracans. Lobsters and their relatives are distinct from other crustaceans in that mothers incubate their eggs, which are … Continue reading →

In the Clades game, the mammals of the land are represented by suprapimates, also known as Euarchontoglires. A squirrel represents rodents, a rabbit represents lagomorphs, and a child represents primates. Like most sorts of mammals, these animals diversified soon after … Continue reading →

The mammals of the water are whippomorphs, represented by a blue whale, a dolphin, and a hippopotamus. The term “whippomorph” means “whale-hippo shape”, and it proves that scientists have a sense of humor. As with many sorts of modern mammal, … Continue reading →

In Clades, the sauropsids of the earth are squamates, comprising all lizards and snakes. “Squamate” means scaly, and their scales distinguish them from turtles, birds, and crocodiles. These other sauropsids have scutes, which are made of bone and horn, but … Continue reading →