Millions of years before the dinosaurs, our planet was populated with a vast array of even stranger creatures. Land vertebrate species underwent an evolutionary boom and grew into an incredible menagerie of new forms. During this brilliant period of life we call the Permian, gliding animals, powerful beasts, and egg-laying creatures rose to prominence. The world was changing and growing into something beautiful.

This specimen is a collection of jaw and tooth fragments from the Richards Spur Quarry near Lawton, Oklahoma. Most of the material is from Captorhinus, an early sauropsid reptile from the Permian. Fossils from the genus have been found in the United States, Brazil, Zambia, India, and Europe.

These creatures had hooked snouts in their skulls with extended front teeth, and resembled a modern lizard at about 30 cm (12 in) long. They were likely one of the smallest carnivores of their time and ate other tiny amniotes. Captorhinids were also one of the first reptile groups to extensively radiate, adapting to many different environments and niches.

You can also get a showcase cluster of Permian Period fossil material in the collection at the bottom of page, as well as other Permian Period wonders!

The Permian Period began around 298 million years ago, after the end of the Carboniferous. It was a transition from warm, swampy jungles towards a more arid climate. The supercontinent Pangea had formed into the single landmass on the planet, with an interior that held stretches of dry deserts within. This was coupled with sudden and extreme weather changes from the Panthalassic Ocean that resulted in frequent “megamonsoons" bringing powerful rain seasons to the coasts.

This was the stage on which Permian creatures thrived. Egg-laying animals called amniotes were among the most prolific groups to be found. The emergence of eggs gave them an edge over amphibians, as they could hatch their young on land and away from aquatic predators. With the arrival of amniotes, life’s dependence on the oceans was severed.

Amniotes are split into two main groups: synapsids and sauropsids. These types of creatures were both quite fast on land, and both had members that were capable of flight. The main difference was in their skulls, with synapsids having a single temporal fenestra (an opening in the skull behind the eye) and sauropsids having two, or none at all.

The synapsids' ability to thermoregulate was perfectly suited to the challenges of the surface and its climate fluctuations. Synapsids of all shapes and sizes could be found living during this period, from the sail-backed Dimetrodon and the tusked Dicynodonts, to tiny tetrapods. While sauropsids were less successful, they still emerged with plenty of unique species, such as the bumpy tetrapod Pareiasaurus and the early gliding vertebrate, Weigeltisaurus.

Synapsids would not rule the Earth forever. The end of the Permian saw the largest mass extinction event of all time, the Great Dying. Over 1 million years, basalt eruptions in what is now Siberia skyrocketed carbon dioxide, methane, and temperatures. Over 95% of life on the planet was killed.

The surviving Sauropsida species eventually evolved into archosaurs, the early ancestors of the dinosaurs. Synapsids survived, but were overtaken by their reptilian competitors, evolving to fit a smaller, nocturnal niche as mammals.