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Global temperatures significantly changed from the late Permian to the Early Triassic: the Earth transformed from a cool world to a hothouse climate. This transition undoubtedly had a strong impact on tetrapod physiology and distribution. During the global cooling, tetrapods generally increased their size; and the currently recognized late Permian tetrapod extinction, exemplified by the record preserved in the South African Karoo Basin, occurred in the late stage of cooling. Rapid warming in the Early Triassic is predicted to have resulted in extinctions and/or local extirpation of low latitude tetrapods, but the very limited fossil record from this region makes testing this hypothesis difficult. Warming is predicted to have had less negative impacts on the tetrapod diversity of mid-latitudes, and promoted the success of tetrapods in the high latitudes. Based on the known fossil record, a tetrapod gap could have existed in central Pangea between ~30◦ N and ~ 40◦S, and lasting from the Induan to the early Spathian. However, the exact boundaries of this gap likely varied over time, and it could have encompassed a larger area during the hottest phases (Griesbachian and near the Smithian–Spathain boundary). 

Lystrosaurus was one of the few tetrapods to survive the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, the most profound biotic crisis in Earth’s history. The wide paleolatitudinal range and high abundance of Lystrosaurus during the Early Triassic provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in growth dynamics and longevity following the mass extinction, yet most studies have focused only on species that lived in the southern hemisphere. Here, we present the long bone histology from twenty Lystrosaurus skeletal elements spanning a range of sizes that were collected in the Jiucaiyuan Formation of northwestern China. In addition, we compare the average body size of northern and southern Pangean Triassic-aged species and conduct cranial geometric morphometric analyses of southern and northern taxa to begin investigating whether specimens from China are likely to be taxonomically distinct from South African specimens. We demonstrate that Lystrosaurus from China have larger average body sizes than their southern Pangean relatives and that their cranial morphologies are distinctive. The osteohistological examination revealed sustained, rapid osteogenesis punctuated by growth marks in some, but not all, immature individuals from China. We find that the osteohistology of Chinese Lystrosaurus shares a similar growth pattern with South African species that show sustained growth until death. However, bone growth arrests more frequently in the Chinese sample. Nevertheless, none of the long bones sampled here indicate that maximum or asymptotic size was reached, suggesting that the maximum size of Lystrosaurus from the Jiucaiyuan Formation remains unknown. 

Stratigraphic sections in the Bogda Mountains, NW China, provide detailed records of late Permian–Early Triassic terrestrial paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic evolution at the paleo-mid-latitude of NE Pangea. The sections are located in the Tarlong-Taodonggou, Dalongkou, and Zhaobishan areas, ~100 km apart, and ~5000 m in total thickness. An age model was constructed using seven high-resolution U-Pb zircon CA-TIMS dates in the Tarlong-Taodonggou sections and projected to sections in two other areas to convert the litho- and cyclo-stratigraphy into a chronostratigraphy. Sediments were deposited in braided and meandering streams, and lacustrine deltaic and lakeplain-littoral environments. A cyclostratigraphy was established on the basis of repetitive environmental changes for high-order cycles, stacking patterns of high-order cycles, and long-term climatic and tectonic trends for low-order cycles (LC). Sedimentary evidence from the upper Wuchiapingian–mid Induan Wutonggou LC indicates that the climate was generally humid-subhumid and gradually became variable toward a seasonally dry condition in the early Induan. Lush vegetation had persisted across the Permo–Triassic boundary into the early Induan. A subhumid-semiarid condition prevailed during the deposition of mid Induan–lower Olenekian Jiucaiyuan and lower Olenekian Shaofanggou LCs. These three LCs are largely continuous and separated by conformities and diastems. Intra- and inter-graben stratigraphic variability is reflected by variations in thickness, depositional system, and average sedimentation rate, and results in variable spatial and temporal stratigraphic resolution. Such stratigraphic variability is mainly controlled by paleogeographic location, depocenter shift, and episodic uplift and subsidence in the source areas and catchment basin. A changeover of plant communities occurred during the early Induan, postdating the end-Permian marine mass extinction. However, riparian vegetation and upland forests were still present from the mid Induan to early Olenekian, and served as primary food source for terrestrial ecosystems, including vertebrates. Correlation of the vascular plant evolutionary history from the latest Changhsingian to early Induan in the Bogda Mountains with those reported from Australia and south China indicates a diachronous floral changeover on Pangea. The late Permian–Early Triassic litho-, cyclo- and chrono-stratigraphies, constrained by the age model, providesfoundation for future studies on the evolution of continental sedimentary, climatic, biologic, and ecological systems in the Bogda region. It also provides a means to correlate terrestrial events in the mid-paleolatitudes with marine and nonmarine records in the other parts of the world. 

Antarctica has hosted a wide range of ecosystems over the past 500-million years. Early in the Mesozoic, the Antarctic portion of southern Pangaea had a more habitable climate, but its position within the polar circle imposed extreme photoperiod seasonality on its resident flora and fauna. It remains unclear to what degree physiological adaptations underpinned the ability of tetrapods to establish the terrestrial communities captured in the fossil record. Here we use regular and stressful growth marks preserved in the dentine of ever-growing tusks of the Early Triassic mammalian predecessor,Lystrosaurus, to test for adaptations specific to this polar inhabitant. We find evidence of prolonged stress indicative of torpor when compared to tusk samples from non-polar populations ofLystrosaurus. These preliminary findings are to our knowledge the oldest instance of torpor yet reported in the fossil record and demonstrate unexpected physiological flexibility inLystrosaurusthat may have contributed its survivorship through the Permo-Triassic mass extinction.

 

The preparietal, a neomorphic midline ossification on the skull roof, is thought to have evolved three times in therapsids, but its development and homology remain poorly understood. Here, we provide preliminary data on the histology of this element in specimens referred to Diictodon feliceps and an indeterminate species of Lystrosaurus. The preparietal has previously been noted to vary substantially in its shape on the dorsal surface of the skull in several dicynodonts, and we found similar variation in thin section. In Diictodon, the preparietal forms a prong that embeds itself entirely within the frontals and shows evidence of a midline suture anteriorly. The sectioned specimen of Lystrosaurus shows histological evidence of immaturity and features a well-defined midline suture at the posterior end of the preparietal, although an anterior prong was not present. In both taxa, the anteroventral portion of the preparietal forms a strongly interdigitating suture with the underlying frontals and parietals. More posteriorly, the preparietal is composed of fibrolamellar bone suggestive of rapid posteroventral growth. In large dicynodont species, the dorsal expression of the preparietal appears to show negative allometry compared with other cranial roofing elements during ontogeny, but the significance of this geometry is unclear. In addition, histological work is needed on the preparietal in gorgonopsians and biarmosuchians to determine whether the features characterizing dicynodonts are also seen in the other two groups of therapsids that evolved a preparietal. The therapsid preparietal provides a rare opportunity to study the development and evolution of a neomorphic cranial element in the vertebrate fossil record.