Permian
299 - 251 mya
Largest Mass Extinction
Fresh Water Fish
In this environment survived the youngest Osteolepiform and acanthodians in association with xenacanthiform and hybodontiform sharks along with coelacanths, lungfishes, and various ray finned fish.
Marine Invertebrate Life
Marine Fish of the Early Permian
In this picture, fishes from the Copacabana Formation of Bolivia are shown. Ray-finned fishes, primitive sharks, and petalodontids are shown.
Geography and Climate
This period is when Pangea occurred. Pangea is when all the continents were one big landmass, Earth’s land was incorporated into Pangea, which was surrounded by waters, an ocean, called Panthalassa.
There were many, many glaciers during the Permian time period. Temperatures were cold. Thought the Permian period, temperatures increased, and by the time the period ended, hot and dry climates infected the areas. It is believed that because of these hot climates, it caused a crisis in the marine and terrestrial life. The shift in climates may have been caused by small continents of Pangea.
Land Animals
Synapsids and Sauropsids are two important groups of land animals.
Synapsids had skulls with only one temporal opening and are thought to be the ancestor that led to mammals.
Sauropsids had two skill openings and were the ancestors of reptiles, dinosaurs, and birds.
Insects and Plants
There were lots of swamp forests. These swamps were huge, and they were dried out. Plants that depended on spores were being replaced by gymnosperms, which are seed-bearing plants.