Dinosaurs

The Cambrian Period

This period holds many Arthropods, only few vertebrates

Opabinia

Opabinia regalis is an extinct, stem group arthropod found in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte (505 million years ago) of British Columbia.^[1] Opabinia was a soft-bodied animal, measuring up to 7 cm in body length, and its segmented trunk had flaps along the sides and a fan-shaped tail. The head shows unusual features: five eyes, a mouth under the head and facing backwards, and a clawed proboscis that probably passed food to the mouth. Opabinia probably lived on the seafloor, using the proboscis to seek out small, soft food.^[2] Fewer than twenty good specimens have been described; 3 specimens of Opabinia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they constitute less than 0.1% of the community.^[3]

Haikoucaris

Haikoucaris is a genus of megacheiran arthropod that contains the single species Haikoucaris ercaiensis. It was discovered in the Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China.

Waptia

Waptia is an extinct genus of arthropod from the Middle Cambrian of North America. It grew to a length of 6.65 cm (3 in), and had a large bivalved carapace and a segmented body terminating into a pair of tail flaps. It was an active swimmer and likely a predator of soft-bodied prey. It is also one of the oldest animals with direct evidence of brood care. Waptia fieldensis is the only species classified under the genus Waptia, and is known from the Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of British Columbia, Canada. Specimens of Waptia are also known from the Spence Shale of Utah, United States.

Anomalocaris

Anomalocaris ("unlike other shrimp", or "abnormal shrimp") is an extinct genus of radiodont, an order of early-diverging stem-group arthropods.

It is best known from the type species A. canadensis, found in the Stephen Formation (particularly the Burgess Shale) of British Columbia, Canada. The species A. daleyae is known from the somewhat older Emu Bay Shale of Australia.^[2] Other undescribed remains are known from China and the United States

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Haikouichthys

Haikouichthys /ˌhaɪkuˈɪkθɪs/ is an extinct genus of craniate (animals with notochords and distinct heads) that lived 518 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion of multicellular life. Haikouichthys had a defined skull and other characteristics that have led paleontologists to label it a true craniate, and even to be popularly characterized as one of the earliest fishes. Cladistic analysis indicates that the animal is probably a basal chordate or a basal craniate;^[2] but it does not possess sufficient features to be included uncontroversially even in either stem group.^[3][4] It was formally described in 1999.^[5]

Trilobite

Trilobites (/ˈtraɪləˌbaɪts, ˈtrɪlə-/;^[4][5][6] meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago) and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last trilobites disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 251.9 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described.

Marrella

Marrella is an extinct genus of marrellomorph arthropod known from the Middle Cambrian of North America and Asia. It is the most common animal represented in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada, with tens of thousands of specimens collected. Much rarer remains are also known from deposits in China.

Pikaia

Pikaia gracilens is an extinct, primitive chordate animal known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Described in 1911 by Charles Doolittle Walcott as an annelid, and in 1979 by Harry B. Whittington and Simon Conway Morris as a chordate, it became "the most famous early chordate fossil",^[1] or "famously known as the earliest described Cambrian chordate".^[2] It is estimated to have lived during the latter period of the Cambrian explosion. Since its initial discovery, more than a hundred specimens have been recovered.^[3]

Wiwaxia

Wiwaxia is a genus of soft-bodied animals that were covered in carbonaceous scales and spines that protected it from predators. Wiwaxia fossils—mainly isolated scales, but sometimes complete, articulated fossils—are known from early Cambrian and middle Cambrian fossil deposits across the globe.^[4][6][7] The living animal would have measured up to 5 centimetres (2 in) when fully grown, although a range of juvenile specimens are known, the smallest being 2 millimetres (0.08 in) long.^[7]

The Ordovician Period

This period is known for the best diverse marine invertebrates

Cameroceras

Cameroceras ("chambered horn") is an extinct genus of endocerid cephalopod which lived in equatorial oceans during the entire Ordovician period. Like other endocerids, it was an orthocone, meaning that its shell was fairly straight and pointed. It was particularly abundant and widespread in the Late Ordovician, inhabiting the shallow tropical seas in and around Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia (equivalent to modern North America, Europe, and Asia).

Megalographus

Megalograptus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Megalograptus have been recovered in deposits of Katian (Late Ordovician) age in North America. The genus contains five species: M. alveolatus, M. ohioensis, M. shideleri, M. welchi and M. williamsae, all based on fossil material found in the United States. Fossils unassigned to any particular species have also been found in Canada. The generic name translates to "great writing" and originates from the mistaken original belief that Megalograptus was a type of graptolite, often given names ending with -graptus (meaning 'writing').

Orthoceras

Orthoceras is a genus of extinct nautiloid cephalopod restricted to Middle Ordovician-aged marine limestones of the Baltic States and Sweden. This genus is sometimes called Orthoceratites. Note it is sometimes misspelled as Orthocera, Orthocerus or Orthoceros.

Aegirocassis

Aegirocassis is an extinct genus of giant radiodont arthropod belonging to the family Hurdiidae that lived 480 million years ago during the early Ordovician in the Fezouata Formation of Morocco. It is known by a single species, Aegirocassis benmoulai.^{[1][note 1]} Van Roy initiated scientific study of the fossil, the earliest known of a "giant" filter-feeder discovered to date.^[1] Aegirocassis is considered to have evolved from early predatory radiodonts.^[3] This animal is characterized by its long, forward facing head sclerite, and the endites on its frontal appendages that bore copious amounts of baleen-like auxiliary spines.^[1] This animal evolving filter-feeding traits was most likely a result of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, when environmental changes caused a diversification of plankton, which in turn allowed for the evolution of new suspension feeding lifeforms.^[4][5] Alongside the closely related Pseudoangustidontus,^[6] an unnamed hurdiid from Wales,^[7] the middle Ordovician dinocaridid Mieridduryn,^[8] and the Devonian hurdiid Schinderhannes this radiodont is one of the few dinocaridids known from post-Cambrian rocks.^[9]

Arandaspis

Arandaspis prionotolepis is an extinct species of jawless fish that lived in the Ordovician period, about 480 to 470 million years ago. Its remains were found in the Stairway Sandstone near Alice Springs, Australia in 1959, but it was not determined that they were the oldest known vertebrates until the late 1960s. Arandaspis is named after a local Indigenous Australian people, the Aranda (now currently called Arrernte).

The Silurian Period

This period has a giant scorpion called Brontoscorpio

Brontoscorpio

Brontoscorpio is an extinct genus of scorpion. Remains of the only known species, Brontoscorpio anglicus, were discovered in the St. Maughan's Formation,^[1][2] Lochkovian-aged (previously also considered as late Silurian)^[3] sandstone from Trimpley, Worcestershire.^[3] The species was described on the basis of an incomplete single free finger of a right pedipalp (In31405), almost 10 cm (3.9 in) long.^[3][4] The complete animal is estimated to have been 77.2–91.5 cm (2.5–3.0 ft) long for females and 86.2–94 cm (2.8–3.1 ft) long for males,^[3] making Brontoscorpio one of the largest known scorpions. The species is characterized by the presence of single condyle and row of thick tubercles on the pedipalp free finger

Eurypterus

Eurypterus is an extinct genus of eurypterid, a group of organisms commonly called "sea scorpions". The genus lived during the Silurian period, from around 432 to 418 million years ago. Eurypterus is by far the most well-studied and well-known eurypterid.

Hughmilleria

Hughmilleria is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Hughmilleria have been discovered in deposits of the Silurian age in China and the United States

Mixopterus

Mixopterus is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Mixopterus have been discovered in deposits from Late Silurian age, and have been referred to several different species. Fossils have been recovered from two continents; Europe and North America

Cooksonia

Cooksonia is an extinct group of primitive land plants, treated as a genus, although probably not monophyletic. The earliest Cooksonia date from the middle of the Silurian (the Wenlock epoch);^[1] the group continued to be an important component of the flora until the end of the Early Devonian, a total time span of 433 to 393 million years ago. While Cooksonia fossils are distributed globally, most type specimens come from Britain, where they were first discovered in 1937.^[4] Cooksonia includes the oldest known plant to have a stem with vascular tissue and is thus a transitional form between the primitive non-vascular bryophytes and the vascular plants.^[5]

Carcinosoma

Carcinosoma is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Carcinosoma are restricted to deposits of late Silurian age. Classified as part of the family Carcinosomatidae, which the genus lends its name to, Carcinosoma contains seven species from North America and Great Britain

Pterygotus

Pterygotus is a genus of giant predatory eurypterid, a group of extinct aquatic arthropods. Fossils of Pterygotus have been discovered in deposits ranging in age from Middle Silurian to Late Devonian, and have been referred to several different species. Fossils have been recovered from four continents; Australia, Europe, North America and South America, which indicates that Pterygotus might have had a nearly cosmopolitan (worldwide) distribution. The type species, P. anglicus, was described by Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz in 1839, who gave it the name Pterygotus, meaning "winged one". Agassiz mistakenly believed the remains were of a giant fish; he would only realize the mistake five years later in 1844.

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The Devonian Period

This period holds some of the first Jawed Fish

Dunkleosteus

Dunkleosteus is an extinct genus of large arthrodire ("jointed-neck") fish that existed during the Late Devonian period, about 382–358 million years ago. It was a pelagic fish inhabiting open waters, and one of the first apex predators of any ecosystem.

Stethacanthus

Stethacanthus is an extinct genus of shark-like holocephalians^[6] which lived from the Late Devonian to Late Carboniferous epoch, dying out around 298.9 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America.

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Hynerpeton

Hynerpeton (/haɪˈnɜːrpətɒn/ lit. 'creeping animal from Hyner') is an extinct genus of early four-limbed vertebrate that lived in the rivers and ponds of Pennsylvania during the Late Devonian period, around 365 to 363 million years ago. The only known species of Hynerpeton is H. bassetti, named after the describer's grandfather, city planner Edward Bassett. Hynerpeton is known for being the first Devonian four-limbed vertebrate discovered in the United States, as well as possibly being one of the first to have lost internal (fish-like) gills.

Hyneria

Hyneria was a large fish. H. lindae is estimated around 2.5–3 metres (8.2–9.8 ft) in total length.^[3][4] The largest complete jaw reaches 38 centimetres (15 in), but there is much larger fragment possibly from a jaw about twice that length, although that specimen may belong to a rhizodont instead.^[5] Assuming this jaw fragment does pertain to Hyneria, and assuming proportions similar to more complete tristichopterids, it suggests H. lindae could possibly reach lengths up to 3.5 metres (11 ft).^[6] A second species, H. uldezinye, was once estimated as having a length of between 2 and 4 metres (6.6 and 13.1 ft) before being described.^[7] However, the species description estimates that the largest specimen belongs to an animal about 2.7 metres (8.9 ft).^[2] Its skull had heavy, ornamented dermal bones and its lower jaw was relatively long and shallow. The teeth were stout, with those of the premaxilla forming fangs upwards of 5 cm (2 in).^[3][1] Its body was covered by cycloid scales.^[1][8] It had large sensory canals to aid in detection of possible prey, as the freshwater environment it inhabited likely was murky and had low visibility.^[8] Adult individuals retained juvenile features (i.e. partially unossified skeletons), suggesting that they were likely neotenic

Dipterus

In most respects, Dipterus, which was about 35 centimetres (14 in) long, closely resembled modern lungfish. Like its ancestor Dipnorhynchus, it had tooth-like plates on its palate instead of real teeth. However, unlike its modern relatives, in which the dorsal, caudal, and anal fin are fused into one, Dipterus's fins were still separated.^[3]

Acanthostega

Acanthostega (meaning "spiny roof") is an extinct genus of stem-tetrapod, among the first vertebrate animals to have recognizable limbs. It appeared in the late Devonian period (Famennian age) about 365 million years ago, and was anatomically intermediate between lobe-finned fishes and those that were fully capable of coming onto land.

Tiktaalik

Tiktaalik (/tɪkˈtɑːlɪk/; Inuktitut ᑎᒃᑖᓕᒃ [tiktaːlik]) is a monospecific genus of extinct sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) from the Late Devonian Period, about 375 Mya (million years ago), having many features akin to those of tetrapods (four-legged animals).^[1] Tiktaalik is estimated to have had a total length of 1.25–2.75 metres (4.1–9.0 ft) based on various specimens.

Ichthyostega

Ichthyostega (from Greek: ἰχθῦς ikhthûs, 'fish' and Greek: στέγη stégē, 'roof') is an extinct genus of limbed tetrapodomorphs from the Late Devonian of what is now Greenland. It was among the earliest four-limbed vertebrates ever in the fossil record and was one of the first with weight-bearing adaptations for terrestrial locomotion. Ichthyostega possessed lungs and limbs that helped it navigate through shallow water in swamps. Although Ichthyostega is often labelled a 'tetrapod' because of its limbs and fingers, it evolved long before true crown group tetrapods and could more accurately be referred to as a stegocephalian or stem tetrapod. Likewise, while undoubtedly of amphibian build and habit, it is not a true member of the group in the narrow sense, as the first modern amphibians (members of the group Lissamphibia) appeared in the Triassic Period. Until finds of other early stegocephalians and closely related fishes in the late 20th century, Ichthyostega stood alone as a transitional fossil between fish and tetrapods, combining fish and tetrapod features. Newer research has shown that it had an unusual anatomy, functioning more akin to a seal than a salamander, as previously assumed

Osteolepis

Osteolepis is an extinct genus of lobe-finned fish from the Devonian period. It lived in the Lake Orcadie of northern Scotland. Osteolepis was about 20 centimetres long, and covered with large, square scales. The scales and plates on its head were covered in a thin layer of spongy, bony material called cosmine.

Coelacanth

Coelacanths (/ˈsiːləkænθ/ ^ⓘ SEE-lə-kanth) (order Coelacanthiformes) are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia.^[2][3] As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (which includes amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) than to ray-finned fish.

Well-represented in both freshwater and marine fossils since the Devonian, they are now represented by only two extant marine species in the genus Latimeria: the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast of Africa, and the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).^[4] The name coelacanth originates from the Permian genus Coelacanthus, which was the first scientifically named coelacanth.

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The Carboniferous Period

This period holds giant Insects due to the amount of Oxygen in the Atmosphere

Meganerua

Meganeura is a genus of extinct insects from the Late Carboniferous (approximately 300 million years ago). They resembled and are related to the present-day dragonflies and damselflies, and were predatory, with their diet mainly consisting of other insects. The genus belongs to the Meganeuridae, a family including other similarly giant dragonfly-like insects ranging from the Late Carboniferous to Middle Permian. With a wingspan about 65–75 cm (2.13–2.46 ft),^[1][2][3] M. monyi is one of the largest-known flying insect species.

Arthropleura

Arthropleura (Greek for 'jointed ribs') is an extinct genus of massive millipedes that lived in what is now North America and Europe around 345 to 290 million years ago,^[1][2] from the Viséan stage of the lower Carboniferous Period to the Sakmarian stage of the lower Permian Period.^[1][3] The species of the genus are the largest known land invertebrates of all time, and would have had few, if any, predators.

Orthacanthus

Orthacanthus is an extinct genus of fresh-water xenacanthiform elasmobranch, named by Louis Agassiz in 1843,^[3][4] ranging from the Upper Carboniferous^[3] into the Lower Permian.^[1] Orthacanthus had a nektobenthic life habitat, with a carnivorous diet.^[5] Multiple authors have also discovered evidence of cannibalism in the diet of Orthacanthus and of "filial cannibalism" where adult Orthacanthus preyed upon juvenile Orthacanthus.^[6] Synonyms of the genus Orthacanthus are Dittodus Owen, 1867, Didymodus Cope, 1883, Diplodus Agassiz, 1843,^[5] Chilodus Giebel, 1848 (preoccupied by Chilodus Müller & Troschel, 1844).^[3]

Fedexia

Fedexia is an extinct genus of carnivorous temnospondyl within the family Trematopidae. It lived 300 million years ago during the late Carboniferous period. It is estimated to have been 2 feet long, and likely resembled a salamander. Fedexia is known from a single skull found in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

Pulmonoscorpius

Pulmonoscorpius is an extinct genus of scorpion from the Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) of Scotland. It contains a single named species, Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis. It was one of the largest scorpions to have ever lived, with the largest known individual having an estimated length exceeding 70 cm (28 inches). Pulmonoscorpius retains several general arthropod features which are absent in modern scorpions, such as large lateral eyes and a lack of adaptations for a burrowing lifestyle. It was likely an active diurnal predator, and the presence of book lungs indicate that it was fully terrestrial.

Tullimonstrum

Tullimonstrum, colloquially known as the Tully monster or sometimes Tully's monster, is an extinct genus of soft-bodied bilaterian animal that lived in shallow tropical coastal waters of muddy estuaries during the Pennsylvanian geological period, about 300 million years ago. A single species, T. gregarium, is known. Examples of Tullimonstrum have been found only in the Essex biota, a smaller section of the Mazon Creek fossil beds of Illinois, United States. Its classification has been the subject of controversy, and interpretations of the fossil have likened it to molluscs, arthropods, conodonts, worms, tunicates, and vertebrates. This creature had a mostly cigar shaped body, with a triangular tail fin, two long stalked eyes, and a proboscis tipped with a mouth-like appendage. Based on the fossils, it seems this creature was a nektonic carnivore that hunted in the ocean’s water column. When Tullimonstrum was alive, Illinois was a mixture of ecosystems like muddy estuaries, marine environments, and rivers and lakes. Fossils of other organisms like crustacean Belotelson, the cnidarian Essexella, and the elasmobranch fish Bandringa have been found alongside Tullimonstrum.

Rhizodus

Rhizodus (root tooth) is an extinct genus of basal, finned tetrapodomorphs (the group of sarcopterygians that contains modern tetrapods and their extinct relatives). It belonged to Rhizodontida, one of the earliest-diverging tetrapodomorph clades. Two valid species have been described, both of which lived during the Early Carboniferous epoch. The type species R. hibberti is known from the Viséan stage of the United Kingdom, whereas the species R. serpukhovensis is from the Serpukhovian of Russia. Some fossils referred to the genus Rhizodus have also been found in North America

Edestus

Edestus is an extinct genus of eugeneodontid holocephalian fish known from the Late Carboniferous of the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States. Most remains consist of isolated curved blades or "whorls" that are studded with teeth, that in life were situated within the jaws.

Hylonomus

Hylonomus (/haɪˈlɒnəməs/; hylo- "forest" + nomos "dweller")^[1] is an extinct genus of reptile that lived 312 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period.^[2] It is the earliest unquestionable reptile (Westlothiana is older, but in fact it may have been an amphibian, and Casineria is rather fragmentary). The only species is the type species Hylonomus lyelli. Despite being amongst the oldest known reptiles, it is not the most primitive member of the group, being a eureptile more derived than either parareptiles or captorhinids.

Ophiacodon

Ophiacodon is an extinct genus of synapsid belonging to the family Ophiacodontidae that lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian in North America and Europe. The genus was named along with its type species O. mirus by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878 and currently includes five other species.

The Permian Period

This period has many animals called Synapsids or “Reptile Like Mammals”

Dimetrodon

Dimetrodon is often mistaken for a dinosaur or as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it became extinct some 40 million years before the advent of dinosaurs.^[6][7] Although reptile-like in appearance and physiology, Dimetrodon is much more closely related to mammals than to reptiles, though it is not a direct ancestor of mammals.^[4] Dimetrodon is assigned to the "non-mammalian synapsids", a group traditionally – but incorrectly – called "mammal-like reptiles",^[4] but now known as stem mammals. This groups Dimetrodon together with mammals in the clade Synapsida, while reptiles are placed in a separate clade, Sauropsida. Single openings in the skull behind each eye, known as temporal fenestrae, and other skull features distinguish Dimetrodon and true mammals from most of the earliest sauropsids.

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Prionosuchus

Prionosuchus is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl. A single species P. plummeri, is recognized from the Early Permian (some time between 299 and 272 million years ago). Its fossils have been found in what is now northeastern Brazil.

Edaphosaurus

Edaphosaurus (/ˌɛdəfoʊˈsɔːrəs/, meaning "pavement lizard" for dense clusters of teeth) is a genus of extinct edaphosaurid synapsids that lived in what is now North America and Europe around 303.4 to 272.5 million years ago,^[1] during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian. American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first described Edaphosaurus in 1882,^[2] naming it for the "dental pavement" on both the upper and lower jaws, from the Greek edaphos έδαφος ("ground"; also "pavement")^[3] and σαῦρος (sauros) ("lizard").

Tiarajudens

Tiarajudens is an extinct genus of saber-toothed herbivorous anomodonts which lived during the Middle Permian period in what is now Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is known from the holotype UFRGS PV393P, a nearly complete skull. The type species T. eccentricus was named in 2011.

Eryops

Eryops (/ˈɛri.ɒps/; from Greek ἐρύειν, eryein, 'drawn-out' + ὤψ, ops, 'face', because most of its skull was in front of its eyes) is a genus of extinct, amphibious temnospondyls. It contains the single species Eryops megacephalus, the fossils of which are found mainly in early Permian (about 295 million years ago) rocks of the Texas Red Beds, located in Archer County, Texas. Fossils have also been found in late Carboniferous period rocks from New Mexico. Several complete skeletons of Eryops have been found in lower Permian rocks, but skull bones and teeth are its most common fossils.

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Helicoprion

Helicoprion is an extinct genus of shark-like^[1] eugeneodont fish. Almost all fossil specimens are of spirally arranged clusters of the individuals' teeth, called "tooth whorls", which in life were embedded in the lower jaw. As with most extinct cartilaginous fish, the skeleton is mostly unknown. Fossils of Helicoprion are known from a 20 million year timespan during the Permian period from the Artinskian stage of the Cisuralian (Early Permian) to the Roadian stage of the Guadalupian (Middle Permian).^[2] The closest living relatives of Helicoprion (and other eugeneodonts) are the chimaeras, though their relationship is very distant.^[3] The unusual tooth arrangement is thought to have been an adaption for feeding on soft bodied prey, and may have functioned as a deshelling mechanism for hard bodied cephalopods such as nautiloids and ammonoids. In 2013, systematic revision of Helicoprion via morphometric analysis of the tooth whorls found only H. davisii, H. bessonowi and H. ergassaminon to be valid, with some of the larger tooth whorls being outliers.^[2]

Rubidgea

Rubidgea is a genus of gorgonopsid from the upper Permian of South Africa and Tanzania, containing the species Rubidgea atrox.^[1][2] The generic name Rubidgea is sometimes believed to be derived from the surname of renowned Karoo paleontologist, Professor Bruce Rubidge, who has contributed to much of the research conducted on therapsids of the Karoo Basin. However, this generic name was actually erected in honor of Rubidge's paternal grandfather, Sydney Rubidge, who was a renowned fossil hunter. Its species name atrox is derived from Latin, meaning “fierce, savage, terrible”. Rubidgea is part of the gorgonopsian subfamily Rubidgeinae, a derived group of large-bodied gorgonopsians restricted to the Late Permian (Lopingian). The subfamily Rubidgeinae first appeared in the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone. They reached their highest diversity in the Cistecephalus and Daptocephalus assemblage zones of the Beaufort Group in Sou

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Moschops

Moschops is an extinct genus of therapsids that lived in the Guadalupian epoch, around 265–260 million years ago. They were heavily built plant eaters, and they may have lived partly in water, as hippopotamuses do. They had short, thick heads and might have competed by head-butting each other.

Diictodon

Diictodon is an extinct genus of pylaecephalid dicynodont^[5] that lived during the Late Permian period, approximately 255 million years ago. Fossils have been found in the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Madumabisa Mudstone of the Luangwa Basin in Zambia and the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone of the Teekloof Formation, Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the Abrahamskraal Formation, Dicynodon Assemblage Zone of the Balfour Formation, Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Middleton or Balfour Formation of South Africa and the Guodikeng Formation of China.^[6] Roughly half of all Permian vertebrate specimens found in South Africa are those of Diictodon. This small herbivorous animal was one of the most successful synapsids in the Permian period.^[7]

Gorynychus

Gorynychus is a genus of therocephalian from the mid-Permian from Kotelnich, Russia. The genus contains two species, G. masyutinae and G. sundyrensis. It was named after the three-headed dragon Zmey Gorynych from Russian mythology

Cotylorhynchus

Cotylorhynchus is an extinct genus of herbivorous caseid synapsids that lived during the late Lower Permian (Kungurian) and possibly the early Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The large number of specimens found make it the best-known caseid. Like all large herbivorous caseids, Cotylorhynchus had a short snout sloping forward and very large external nares. The head was very small compared to the size of the body. The latter was massive, barrel-shaped, and ended with a long tail. The limbs were short and robust. The hands and feet had short, broad fingers with powerful claws. The barrel-shaped body must have housed large intestines, suggesting that the animal had to feed on a large quantity of plants of low nutritional value. Caseids are generally considered to be terrestrial, though a semi-aquatic lifestyle has been proposed by some authors. The genus Cotylorhynchus is represented by three species, the largest of which could reach more than 6 m in length. However, a study published in 2022 suggests that the genus may be paraphyletic, with two of the three species possibly belonging to separate genera.

Nochnitsa

Nochnitsa is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids who lived during an uncertain stage of the Permian in what is now European Russia.

Gorgonops

Gorgonops (from Greek: Γοργών 'Gorgon' and ὤψ 'eye, face', literally 'Gorgon eye' or 'Gorgon face') is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsid, of which it is the type genus. Gorgonops lived during the Late Permian (Wuchiapingian), about 260–254 million years ago in what is now South Africa.

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Inostrancevia

Inostrancevia is an extinct genus of large carnivorous therapsids which lived during the Late Permian in what is now European Russia and Southern Africa. The first-known fossils of this gorgonopsian were discovered in the Northern Dvina, where two almost complete skeletons were exhumed. Subsequently, several other fossil materials were discovered in various oblasts, and these finds will lead to a confusion about the exact number of valid species in the country, before only three of them were officially recognized: I. alexandri, I. latifrons and I. uralensis. More recent research carried out in South Africa has discovered fairly well-preserved remains of the genus, being attributed to the species I. africana. An isolated left premaxilla suggests that Inostrancevia also lived in Tanzania during the earliest Lopingian age. The whole genus is named in honor of Alexander Inostrantsev, professor of Vladimir P. Amalitsky, the paleontologist who described the taxon.

Sarcoprion

Sarcoprion (from the Ancient Greek, "flesh saw") is an extinct genus of eugeneodontid holocephalids from the Permian of Greenland. Similar to other eugeneodontids such as Edestus and Helicoprion, it was best known for its extremely bizarre tooth morphology compared to other species of sharks and their closest relatives, the chimaeras. Compared to other members of the Helicoprionidae (teeth of Agassiz), its "tooth whorls" were found to be sharper, more compact, and in better condition than other holocephalians of the time, and refrained from growing to extremely unwieldy forms that would raise questions about its ability to feed properly.^[1] The genus contains one species, Sarcoprion edax, found in Permian-aged marine strata of Meddelelser om Grønland.

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Diplocaulus

Diplocaulus (meaning "double stalk") is an extinct genus of lepospondyl amphibians which lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Late Permian of North America and Africa. Diplocaulus is by far the largest and best-known of the lepospondyls, characterized by a distinctive boomerang-shaped skull. Remains attributed to Diplocaulus have been found from the Late Permian of Morocco and represent the youngest-known occurrence of a lepospondyl.

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Scutosaurus

Scutosaurus ("shield lizard") is an extinct genus of pareiasaur parareptiles. Its genus name refers to large plates of armor scattered across its body. It was a large anapsid reptile that, unlike most reptiles, held its legs underneath its body to support its great weight.^[2] Fossils have been found in the Sokolki Assemblage Zone of the Malokinelskaya Formation in European Russia, close to the Ural Mountains, dating to the late Permian (Lopingian) between 264 and 252 million years ago.

Sauroctonus

Sauroctonus is an extinct genus of gorgonopsian therapsids who lived during the end of the Middle Permian in what is now European Russia. The first fossils, discovered in Tatarstan, were initially believed to belong to a new species of the South African genus Arctognathus.

Estemmenosuchus

Estemmenosuchus (meaning "crowned crocodile" in Greek) is an extinct genus of large, early omnivorous therapsid. It is believed and interpreted to have lived during the middle part of the Middle Permian around 267 million years ago. The two species, E. uralensis and E. mirabilis, are characterised by distinctive horn-like structures, which were probably used for intra-specific display. Both species of Estemmenosuchus are from the Perm (or Cis-Urals) region of Russia. Two other estemmenosuchids, Anoplosuchus and Zopherosuchus, are now considered females of the species E. uralensis.^[1] There were many complete and incomplete skeletons found together.

Casea

Casea is a genus of herbivorous caseid synapsids that lived during the late Lower Permian (Kungurian) in what is now Texas, United States. The genus is only represented by its type species, Casea broilii, named by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1910.^[1] The species is represented by a skull associated with a skeleton (the holotype FMNH UC 656), a second skull (FMNH UC 698), a partial skull with a better preserved dentition than that of the preceding skulls (FMNH UC 1011), and several incomplete postcranial skeletons.^[2] Three other Casea species were later erected, but these are considered today to be invalid or belonging to different genera.^[3][4][5] Casea was a small animal with a length of about 1.20 m and a weight of around 20 kg.^[6][7]

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The Triassic Period

After the Permian Extinction event [the most deadliest extinction event of all time] life began to recover, and only few dinosaurs starting to appear