| Cisuralian Epoch | ||
| Paleozoic: Permian Period |
The Kungurian Age |
| Artinskian | Pennsylvanian | Cisuralian | ||
| Roadian | Guadalupian | Timescale |
Paleozoic vascular flora, which appeared in the Middle Ordovician epoch, died out quite a few millions of years before the end of the Paleozoic, in the Kungurian or earlier. In the Guadalupian, the gymnosperm-dominated Mesophytic flora emerges (although Mesophytic type plants go back to the Carboniferous, just as some Paleophytic plants survive even to this day), and this flourishes right up until the middle and later Cretaceous.
MAK010115.
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A typical caseid synapsid. During the Kungurian these herbivores were generally 2 to 4 meters in length with the largest species reaching 5 or 6 meters illustration by Steve Kirk, from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals, ed. by Barry Cox |
During this period, for the first time, herbivores established themselves as a major part of a terrestrial ecosystem. Although herbivorous reptilomorphs (Diadectes) and synapsids (Edaphosaurus) appeared during the latest Carboniferous, they remained a minority element of the "Edaphosaur - Nectridean" fauna. But now in the Kungurian we see an environment dominated by medium to large sized herbivores (the pelycosaur family Caseidae). This very important event marked the shift from a food chain based on detritus and carnivory insectivore/ piscivore/ carnivore) to a more efficient one in which plants as primary producers provide the main input. The Lopingian Epoch (Late Permian) witnessed a succession of impressive medium to large herbivores - caseids, estemmenosuchids, deuterosaurs, tapinocephalids, and dicynodonts - with (apart from the dicynodonts) each "dynasty" flourishing briefly than dying out after only a few million years, to be replaced by a new wave. The reason for this may perhaps be related to the instability of these early ecosystems, which had not yet developed the complexity and stability of a long-range ecology. A similar situation was evident with the first waves of Metazoa marine invertebrates) during the late Vendian (Edicarian) through to Furongian time.
Class Tetrapoda
Order Temnospondyli
Superfamily Trimerorhachoidea
Family Trimerohachidae
Upper San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Predator of aquatic invertebrates
The only stem tetrapod from this locality. Known from very scrappy remains. Olson, 1962 suggests that this species is quite similar to Trimerohachis, and could be a descendant
Known specimens consist of skull fragments and some postcranial elements
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The captorhinid reptile Labidosaurus. Rothaniscus and Kahneria would have been very similar in appearance. In lifestyle these animals were comparable to large tropical lizards |
Class Reptilia
Plesion Eureptilia
Order Captorhinomorpha
Family Captorhinidae
Upper San Angelo Formations, Pease River Group
Hardemann County, Texas
Skull is 25 cm long. Standard total length of about 1.5 metres long
omnivore
Previous described as Rothia, this is the largest member of the Captorhinidae. The rather light structure of the limb bones suggest an agile reptile
Known specimens consist of several partial skulls and postcranial elements
Class Reptilia
Plesion Eureptilia
Order Captorhinomorpha
Family Captorhinidae
Upper San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Standard total length of about 1.2 metres long
Known from scrappy remains, this appears to be an animal similar to (but a little smaller than) Rothaniscus
Known specimens consist of several partial lower jaws and postcranial elements
Dimetrodon angelensis
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Eupelycosauria
Family Sphenacodontidae
Upper San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Skull is 58 cm long. Standard total length of about 4 metres
about 300 kg
Predator of other Tetrapods
the last and largest of the fin-back synapsids; creatures that were so successful for some 30 million years.
Known specimens consist of skull and skeletal elements
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
Middle San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Standard total length of about 3 metres
about 150 to 200 kg
herbivore
Very similar to, perhaps a descendent of, the Artinskian Casea halselli, but rather larger in size. A very typical Caseid; a fairly large, heavily built, herbivorous lizard-like animal. In the development of its proportionally thick, stout limbs it represents the culmination of the Casea lineage. The Roadian Phreatophasma aenigmaticum, although smaller and more lightly built, may tentatively be a relative.
Known specimens consist of partial skeletons of two specimens
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
near top of Middle San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Standard total length of about 3 metres
herbivore
In contrast to other members of the family, this is a lightly built, agile animal. It's direct antecedents are not known. Caseopsis c.f. agilis (either the same species or a very similar one) is known from the slightly later Lower Flowerpot Formation, same locality
Known specimens consist of a partial skull and postcranial elements
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
Upper San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Hardemann County, Texas
Standard total length of about 6 metres
about 2 tonnes
herbivore
Probably a descendent of the latest Artinskian age Cotylorhynchus romeri, this is likewise a very large, heavily built animal. In fact this huge but gentle herbivore is the largest known caseid, the largest known pelycosaur, and for its time the largest tetrapod ever. In fact it was so big that adults had nothing to fear from any contemporary carnivores. This was a very common animal, and Olson, in his monograph on Late Permian Vertebrates [Olson 1962] has created a number of false species based on misinterpretations of this and other species ("chimeras"). The giant dinocephalians Driveria, Mastersonia, and Tappenosaurus, each provided with its own family and since referred to in subsequent paleontological works, were probably based on misinterpretations of this Caseid. This is all the more surprising considering that Olson wrote a monograph on the family.
Known specimens consist of postcranial elements
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
Middle San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Standard total length of about 3 to 3.5 metres
about 300 kg
herbivore
A large, heavily built form
Known specimens consist of a partial skull and postcranial elements
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Therapsida?
Suborder "Biarmosuchia"? basal Therapsids)
Family Phthinosuchidae?
Upper San Angelo Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
skull is 6 cm long
It is not clear whether this small, very scrappy specimen really is a proto-therapsid or simply a misidentified pelycosaur
Known specimens consist of a partial skull
This is the youngest occurrence of the American sequence of Texas Red Beds and equivalent formations. The animals here are very similar to those of the preceding San Angelo Formation (Earliest Kungurian), and clearly part of the same chronofauna.
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
Chickasha Tongue of the middle Flowerpot Formation
Kingfisher County, Oklahoma
Standard total length of about 3 metres
about 250 kg
herbivore
This is not only the last member of the genus but also, curiously, the smallest and most lightly built. But in characteristics such as the phalangeal formula and tooth structure it is the most advanced. It seems that the Cotylorhynchines, having reached the maximum size in the Early Kungurian C. hancocki, now began to shrink, culminating in the diminutive Ennatosaurus of the late Roadian/early Wordian
Known specimens consist of postcranial elements
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
Lower Flowerpot Formation, Pease River Group
Knox County, Texas, USA
Standard total length of about 4 metres
about 500 kg
herbivore
This is the largest of the Angelosaurs. It is known only from very scrappy remains. Apart from larger size, there is little to distinguish this species from the slightly earlier Angelosaurus dolani
Known specimens consist of scrappy postcranial elements
Plesion Synapsida (Theropsida)
Order Pelycosauria
Suborder Caseasauria
Family Caseidae
Chickasha Tongue of the middle Flowerpot Formation
Kingfisher County, Oklahoma
Standard total length of about 2.5 metres
about 150 kg
herbivore
This is the smallest of the Angelosaurs. The vertebrae can only be distinguished with difficulty from those of the contemporary Cotylorhynchus
Known specimens consist of postcranial elements
There are no tetrapod beds of undoubted middle or late Kungurian Age. It may be that Ocher fauna of Russia may occur at this level rather than during the Early Roadian, but that is probably not likely. In any case, even if it was the case, there is still a great morphological gap between the early Kungurian caseid fauna, and the Latest Kungurian/ Early Roadian Bairmosuchian- Estemmenosuchid fauna
page by M. Alan Kazlev 2002
page uploaded 20 May 2002
checked ATW031229