| Middle Triassic | |
| Color: | Middle Triassic |
| Time Start: | 247.2 |
| Time End: | 237 |
| Time End Prefix: | ~ |
| Caption Map: | Map of Earth as it appeared 240 million years ago during the Middle Triassic, Ladinian stage |
| Image Outcrop: | Obere Schaumkalkbank am Altenberg bei Dörzbach 280308.jpg |
| Caption Outcrop: | Middle Triassic aged Muschelkalk (Schaumkalk) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
| Timeline: | Triassic |
| Name Formality: | Formal |
| Celestial Body: | earth |
| Usage: | Global (ICS) |
| Timescales Used: | ICS Time Scale |
| Chrono Unit: | Epoch |
| Strat Unit: | Series |
| Timespan Formality: | Formal |
| Lower Boundary Def: | Not formally defined |
| Lower Def Candidates: |
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| Lower Gssp Candidates: |
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| Upper Boundary Def: | FAD of the Ammonite Daxatina canadensis |
| Upper Gssp Location: | Prati di Stuores, Dolomites, Italy |
| Upper Gssp Accept Date: | 2008[1] |
In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Early Triassic Epoch and followed by the Late Triassic Epoch. The Middle Triassic is divided into the Anisian and Ladinian ages or stages.
Formerly the middle series in the Triassic was also known as Muschelkalk. This name is now only used for a specific unit of rock strata with approximately Middle Triassic age, found in western Europe.
Following the Permian - Triassic extinction event, the most devastating of all mass-extinctions, life recovered slowly. In the Middle Triassic, many groups of organisms reached higher diversity again, such as the marine reptiles (e.g. ichthyosaurs, sauropterygians, thallatosaurs), ray-finned fish and many invertebrate groups like molluscs (ammonoids, bivalves, gastropods).
During the Middle Triassic, there were no flowering plants, but instead there were ferns and mosses. Small dinosauriforms began to appear, like Nyasasaurus and the ichnogenus Iranosauripus.