Famennian

System/ Period	Series/ Epoch	Stage/ Age	Age (Ma)
Carboniferous	Mississippian	Tournaisian	recent
Devonian	Late	Famennian	372.2–358.9
		Frasnian	382.7–372.2
	Middle	Givetian	387.7–382.7
		Eifelian	393.3–387.7
	Early	Emsian	407.6–393.3
		Pragian	410.8–407.6
		Lochkovian	419.2–410.8
Silurian	Pridoli	no faunal stages defined	older
Subdivision of the Devonian system according to the ICS.

The Famennian is the latter of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian epoch. It lasted from 372.2 ± 1.6 million years ago to 358.9 ± 0.4 million years ago. It was preceded by the Frasnian stage and followed by the Tournaisian stage.

It was during this age that tetrapods first appeared. In the seas, a novel major group of ammonoid cephalopods called clymeniids appeared, underwent tremendous diversification and spread worldwide, then just as suddenly went extinct.

The beginning of the Famennian is marked by a major extinction event, the Kellwasser Event, and the end with a smaller but still quite severe extinction event, the Hangenberg Event.

North American subdivisions of the Famennian include the Chautauquan, Canadaway, Conneaut, Conneautan, Conewango and Conewangan.

Name and definition

The Famennian stage was proposed in 1855 by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont and was accepted for the upper stage of the Upper Devonian by the Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy in 1981. It is named after Famenne, a natural region in southern Belgium.

Fauna

• Fish
  • Cabonnichthys
  • Mandageria

• Tetrapods
  • Acanthostega
  • Elginerpeton
  • Ichthyostega
  • Ventastega

See also

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)