The period of time 350-280 million years ago. Swamps formed and filled with lush vegetation. Many of those swamps became coal, which we cheerfully burn today. The period is named for these deposits. And what's a swamp without insects? They evolved too. Amphibians spread and begat reptiles - the first full-time vertebrate land dwellers.

Gorgonzola points out that American geologists often divide this period into a Mississippian period and a Pennsylvanian period.

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