<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Mesozoic Era 251.902 - 66 million years ago </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Key events in the Mesozoic view discuss edit - 260---- - 240---- - 220---- - 200---- - 180---- - 160---- - 140---- - 120---- - 100---- - 80---- - 60---- Paleozoic Cenozoic Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous s o z o i Phanerozoic An approximate timescale of key Mesozoic events . Axis scale: millions of years ago . </Td> </Tr> <P> The Mesozoic Era (/ ˌmɛsəˈzoʊɪk, ˌmiː -, - soʊ - / or / ˌmɛzəˈzoʊɪk, ˌmiː -, - soʊ - /) is an interval of geological time from about 252 to 66 million years ago . It is also called the Age of Reptiles, a phrase introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by diapsids such as Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, Plesiosaurus and Pterodactylus . This Era is also called from a paleobotanist view the Age of Conifers . </P> <P> Mesozoic means "middle life", deriving from the Greek prefix meso - / μεσο - for "between" and zōon / ζῷον meaning "animal" or "living being". It is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, preceded by the Paleozoic ("ancient life") and succeeded by the Cenozoic ("new life"). The era is subdivided into three major periods: the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous, which are further subdivided into a number of epochs and stages . </P>

When did the mesozoic era begin and end