Editing Cretaceous Period (section)

==Life==
===Plants===
[[File:Flowers.gif|thumb|250px|right|An example of a flowering Angiosperms]]

Flowering plants (angiosperms) spread during this period, although they did not become predominant until the Campanian stage near the end of the epoch. Their evolution was aided by the appearance of bees; in fact angiosperms and insects are a good example of coevolution. The first representatives of many leafy trees, including figs, planes and magnolias, appeared in the Cretaceous. At the same time, some earlier Mesozoic gymnosperms like Conifers continued to thrive; pehuéns (Monkey Puzzle trees, Araucaria) and other conifers being notably plentiful and widespread, although other gymnosperm taxa like Bennettitales died out before the end of the period.

===Terrestrial Fauna===
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[[File:Tyrannosaurus BW.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Tyrannosaurus Rex, the pereminent Terrastrial Predator of the age]]
On land, mammals were a small and still relatively minor component of the fauna. Early marsupial mammals evolved in the Early Cretaceous, with true placentals emerging in the Late Cretaceous period. The fauna was dominated by archosaurian reptiles, especially dinosaurs, which were at their most diverse stage. Pterosaurs were common in the early and middle Cretaceous, but as the Cretaceous proceeded they faced growing competition from the adaptive radiation of birds, and by the end of the period only two highly specialized families remained.

The Liaoning lagerstätte (Chaomidianzi formation) in China provides a glimpse of life in the Early Cretaceous, where preserved remains of numerous types of small dinosaurs, birds, and mammals have been found. The coelurosaur dinosaurs found there represent types of the group Maniraptora, which is transitional between dinosaurs and birds, and are notable for the presence of hair-like feathers.

During the Cretaceous, insects began to diversify, and the oldest known ants, termites and some lepidopterans, akin to butterflies and moths, appeared. Aphids, grasshoppers, and gall wasps appeared.

===Marine Fauna===
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[[File:Asteroceras BW.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Asteroceras an Annomite example of marine Life from the period]]
In the seas, rays, modern sharks and teleosts became common. Marine reptiles included ichthyosaurs in the early and middle of the Cretaceous, becoming extinct during the late Cretaceous, plesiosaurs throughout the entire period, and mosasaurs appearing in the Late Cretaceous.moo moo moo cow

Baculites, an ammonite genus with a straight shell, flourished in the seas along with reef-building rudist clams. The Hesperornithiformes were flightless, marine diving birds that swam like grebes. Globotruncanid Foraminifera and echinoderms such as sea urchins and starfish (sea stars) thrived. The first radiation of the diatoms (generally siliceous, rather than calcareous) in the oceans occurred during the Cretaceous; freshwater diatoms did not appear until the Miocene.[18] The Cretaceous was also an important interval in the evolution of bioerosion, the production of borings and scrapings in rocks, hardgrounds and shells (Taylor and Wilson, 2003).
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