The significant extinction event during the Late Pennsylvanian (Fig. 4b, arrow 1) is associated with a significant ecological change based on a Euramerican floral and plant–insect associational record. At the end of the Middle Pennsylvanian, there was a major extinction of the dominant wetland communities on peat and mineral substrates in Euramerica (Phillips et al. 1974, Pfefferkorn and Thomson 1982), which resulted in a major replacement of