The Lopingian is the uppermost series/last epoch of the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

. It is the last epoch of the Paleozoic. The Lopingian was preceded by the Guadalupian and followed by the Early Triassic. The Lopingian is often synonymous with the informal terms late Permian or upper Permian. The name was introduced by Amadeus William Grabau in 1931 and derives from Leping, Jiangxi in China. It consists of two stages/ ages. The earlier is the

Wuchiapingian In the geologic timescale, the Wuchiapingian or Wujiapingian (from in the Liangshan area of Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province ) is an age or stage of the Permian. It is also the lower or earlier of two subdivisions of the Lopingian Epoch or S ...

and the later is the Changhsingian. The International Chronostratigraphic Chart (v2018/07) provides a numerical age of 259.1 ±0.5 Ma. If a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) has been approved, the lower boundary of the earliest stage determines numerical age of an epoch. The GSSP for the

has a numerical age of 259.8 ± 0.4 Ma. Evidence from Milankovitch cycles suggests that the length of an Earth day during this epoch was approximately 22 hours.

Geography

During the Lopingian, most of the earth was in the supercontinent Pangaea. The Zechstein sea, would, at times, be connected to the Paleotethys; Other features of the earth during the time were the Microcontinent Cathaysia; And the Cimmerian superterrane, which divided the Tethys Ocean realm into the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and the slowly expanding Neotethys Ocean.

Life

The Lopingian ended with the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where over 95% of

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

went

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. The series follows the Guadalupian, which ended with the Capitanian mass extinction, during which many species of

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...

s, ammonoids and other groups went extinct.

Conodonts Conodonts, are an extinct group of marine jawless vertebrates belonging to the Class (biology), class Conodonta (from Ancient Greek κῶνος (''kōnos''), meaning "cone", and ὀδούς (''odoús''), meaning "tooth"). They are primarily known ...

would reach their all-time low during this period, despite this, they are recovered from most marine Permian localities. Common conodonts from the Lopingian include the genera '' Clarkina'' and ''

Hindeodus ''Hindeodus'' is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Anchignathodontidae. The generic name ''Hindeodus'' is a tribute to George Jennings Hinde, a British geologist and paleontologist from the 1800s and early 1900s. The suffix -odus typica ...

''. The Lopingian would see the decline of the Paleozoic ammonoid orders ( Goniatitida and Prolecanitida) and the rise of the order Ceratitida, especially within the superfamily Xenodiscoidea. Only seven trilobites are known from the Lopingian, with only five by the end of the epoch. One of the last members of this clade was '' Kathwaia capitorosa''. Eurypterids were nearly extinct by this point, consisting of the possibly Lopingian '' Campylocephalus permicus'' of Russia; and the Changhsingian '' Woodwardopterus? freemanorum'' of Australia. A member of the extant Horseshoe crab family, '' Limulidae; Guangyuanolimulus'' appears at the end of the period. On land, gorgonopsians would become the apex predators after the extinction of the Dinocephalians, Other predators include the Therocephalians. Herbivorous animals of the Lopingian include the pareiasaurs such as '' Scutosaurus'' or dicynodonts, such as '' Dicynodon''.

Fossil gallery

File:Smilesaurus skull.jpg, '' Smilesaurus ferox'', one of the most fearsome predators of the Lopingian File:Dicynodon.jpg, Skull of '' Dicynodon'', a dicynodont. File:Scutosaurus.jpg, '' Scutosaurus'', a common herbivore during the late Permian File:Paratirolites robustus (10.5852-ejt.2021.776.1559) Figure 26.png, '' Paratirolites'', an ammonoid from the latest Permian ( Changhsingian)

References

{{Geological history, p, m *03 Geological epochs

Geography

Life

Fossil gallery

See also

References