Question

The Cenozoic era is known as
A. Age of mammals and modern flora
B. Age of reptiles and gymnosperms
C. Age of amphibia and lycopods
D. Age of marine invertebrates

Answer 1

Hint: Evolutionary history of life is subdivided into three eras namely Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic era. Paleozoic is the oldest and existed 540-248 million years ago. The Cenozoic era existed from 248-68 million years ago and the Cenozoic era began 68 million years ago.

Complete step by step answer: Cenozoic era is about 65 million years old. The ice age of this era had led to many extinctions. There are mainly three types of the era;
i. Palaeozoic era: This was the era in which plants became more diverse and the first vertebrate animals colonized the land.
ii. Mesozoic era: It is the age of reptiles and conifers.
iii. Cenozoic era: It is the age of mammals and modern flora. Due to the extinction of dinosaurs, many niches were vacated and mammals evolved to occupy these niches because of which the Cenozoic era is called the age of mammals. The Cenozoic era is also called the “age of flowering plants”, as this era saw the diversification of mammals and modern plants. During this era, Eutherian mammals dominated the northern hemisphere and Metatherians dominated southern hemisphere. The Cenozoic era exists to the present day.
Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Additional information: Cenozoic era is divided into 3 periods namely; the Paleogene, Neogene and the quaternary and 7 epochs namely; Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene.

Note: The Quaternary Period was officially recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in June 2009, and the former term, Tertiary Period, became officially disused in 2004 due to the need to divide the Cenozoic into periods more like those of the earlier Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras.