Therocephalians were a speciose clade of nonmammalian therapsids whose ecological diversity and survivorship of the end-Permian mass extinction offer the potential to investigate the evolution of growth patterns across the clade and their underlying influences on post-extinction body size reductions, or 'Lilliput effects'. We present a phylogenetic survey of limb bone histology and growth patte...

Triassic strata are widely developed in the eastern part of Sichuan Basin. The Mingyuexia anticline and Huangnitang located structural belt develop Jialingjiang Formation to Xujiahe Formation. middle Leikoupo Badong on both sides synchronous heterogeneous strata. They distinguished regionally according their different sedimentary environments lithologic characteristics, phase transition boundar...

BACKGROUND Modern selachians and their supposed sister group (hybodont sharks) have a long and successful evolutionary history. Yet, although selachian remains are considered relatively common in the fossil record in comparison with other marine vertebrates, little is known about the quality of their fossil record. Similarly, only a few works based on specific time intervals have attempted to i...

BACKGROUND Archosauria and their closest relatives, the non-archosaurian archosauriforms, diversified in the Early and Middle Triassic, soon after the end-Permian extinction. This diversification is poorly documented in most Lower and Middle Triassic rock sequences because fossils of early groups of archosauriforms are relatively rare compared to those of other amniotes. The early Middle Triass...

A new discovery of skeletons of Revueltosaurus callenderi from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona clearly shows that Revueltosaurus is not an ornithischian dinosaur as previously supposed. Features such as the presence of a postfrontal, crocodile-normal ankle and paramedian osteoderms with anterior bars place R. callenderi within the Pseudosuchia, clo...

Redox variations across the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) have long been debated, especially during proliferation of PTB microbialites. Here, we report redox fluctuations to evaluate links between two based on pyrite framboid analysis from basin platform settings in South China. During end-Permian extinction, abundant framboids indicate a widespread anoxia that was likely direct cause extinct...