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Here’s a pelycosaur appendicular bone I acquired from a vendor well-acquainted with Permian material a while back. It was sold to me only as Dimetrodon limbatus from the Archer City Formation in Texas. Thing is, I’ve never been able to place exactly what bone it is, and it doesn’t seem to match any appendicular elements of Dimetrodon which I could find references for. Here’s to the hope that there’s somebody here well-acquainted with this material who can put me on the right track!

During the Summer, I had the fortune of driving near Seymour, TX and thus the opportunity to pay a visit to the WMNH. The WMNH is a small but unique museum in Northern Texas, specializing in the Early Permian fauna that lived nearby ~ 290 million years ago in the famous Texas "red beds." The land around Seymour was once an equatorial bayou, humid and inundated with rivers and lakes. In the rivers were lungfish like those that live today, various ray-finned fishes, and cartilaginous fish like the Xenacanth "sharks." Amphibians like Eryops, Seymouria, and Diplocaulus also spent much of their lives in the water, but were capable of venturing onto land. The most famous not-a-dinosaur Dimetrodon was the terrestrial apex predator, living among other stem-mammals like Edaphosaurus and Secodontosaurus. Early Dinosaurs and mammals were still tens of millions of years in the future. Most of these interesting animals are rarely found in museums, so the chance to see so many of them in one building was an uncommon privilege. Outside the building, a larger-than-life Dimetrodon stands watch over the murals. The building is also lined with large Ammonites. an Eryops tries to find some shade Inside, there are several life reconstructions of some of these animals, the first one being Dimetrodon The first of several Dimetrodon individuals, "Bonnie" The red matrix has been coated with a dark grey material to increase contrast with the bones. There is a partial Diplocaulus amphibian skull in its belly Something I hadn't known: Dimetrodon may have been venomous?? I look forward to the publication of the evidence A couple of large Eryops, their skulls were comparable in size to those of large Alligators Various skeletal elements 1. D. grandis femur, 2. Dimetrodon sp. femur, 3. Edaphosaurus pogonius tibia, 4. Dimetrodon sp. tibia, 5. Edaphosaurus pelvis, 6. Dimetrodon sp. pelvis, 7. Secodontosaurus pelvis Diadectes, a herbivorous tetrapod incisorform and molariform teeth indicate it was capable of stripping and masticating vegetation, a novel development among tetrapods of the time. It also had a secondary palate like we do, meaning it could chew and breathe simultaneously. Diplocaulus, the "boomerang-headed" amphibian Dimetrodon elements Neural spine with a pathology, a healed break possibly from the attack of another Dimetrodon Maxilla with a broken canine, proposed to be broken in life Pelvis with bite marks, possible evidence of cannibalism Another Dimetrodon Some plants

Earlier this month I got the opportunity to return to one of my Permian fossil sites that I haven't visited since around April. The site is located in McClain County in central Oklahoma south of OKC. According to a geological map the majority of the area consists of the Wellington Formation, however the bottom of the exposed area is shown to be apart of the Stillwater Formation. According to scientific publications the only fossil producing layer is mentioned as belonging to the Wolfcamp (296.4 to 268 Ma) particularly the Gearyan strata. I've spent multiple trips earlier this year searching the layer mentioned as being the fossil producing layer but have only found plant impressions. Which I'll post some time in the future. Out of the entire outcrop though, I have only been able to find vertebrate remains in one particular spot. An area that appears to be below the known fossil producing layer. On this trip though, I only spent about 4 hours searching the site because I also had plans to visit family for dinner. Overall, I feel I had a pretty good half day trip. Below are some pictures of the vertebrate remains I surface collected on this trip. I must admit I haven't dedicated any real time to trying to identify the various species from the site yet and have only cleaned the material upon returning back home. But just looking through them while laying them out for pictures, there appears to be Eryops, Edaphosaurus, Diplocaulus, a small Captorhinid as well as an Xenacanthus shark. I've been collecting and cleaning the vertebrate remains from this particular site since March of this year but have focused the majority of my attention towards collecting, prepping and identifying fossils from a different site/formation here with in Oklahoma. All the following pictures are from my most recent fossil hunting trip. ⬆️ Overall view of the site. ⬆️ Quick separation of the bone fragments into various piles. ⬆️ Teeth, mostly Eryops megacephalus. ⬆️ Xenacanthus shark teeth. ⬆️ Jaw fragments, larger fragments appear to be Eryops megacephalus. ⬆️ Small jaw fragment with 2 or 3 teeth, possibly belonging to Diplocaulus. ⬆️ Large vertebrae fragments. ⬆️ Small sized vertebrae, the top row appear to be Diplocaulus. ⬆️ Edaphosaurus sail spine sections, a couple fragments might not be from an Edaphosaurus but were placed in the grouping during a quick sort of all the fragments. ⬆️ Various skull fragments, Eryops megacephalus, Diplocaulus and possibly Diadectes along the top row. Diadectes were one of the two species initially identified from the site along with a temnospondyl according to the research papers I read. I have had a difficult time finding clear close up images of the surface of a Diadectes skull. That is, at least from a legitimate scientifically described specimen that hasn't had the majority of the skull restored. ⬆️ These two pieces are the largest of the fragments that I suspect might belong to a Diadectes. ⬆️ Small limb bone fragments. ⬆️ Possible coprolites. ⬆️ Last but not least, concretions with bone fragments. At least one of the larger pieces has multiple vertebrae and portions of ribs. One small piece has what appears to be a section of jaw with 2 teeth still in place. One piece even has the exposed bases of a small Captorhinid jaw, showing atleast 3 rows of teeth. Interestingly, not all that far away in the next county over in Cleveland county near Norman there's a site that has produced the remains of Captorhinikos chozaensis and Captorhinikos parvus. Exactly what species this particular jaw fragment is from I have no idea. But I'm hoping when I do dedicate the time to identifying the species from this site, I will be able to find enough bone fragments from similar sized Captorhinid remains that I can get a general idea of what species inhabited the site. ⬇️ For these next pictures I used my loop and did the best I could at holding the specimen while also holding the loop still and then also holding my phone up to the loop and still managing to press the take a picture button on my phone. All while trying to hold still so the pictures did not come out blurry. The picture quality is poor but I hope in the future to invest in a digital microscope with a viewing screen. ⬆️ I suspect this might be the exterior of a jaw with two teeth still remaining in the jaw. The possible teeth are along the bottom of the fragmented red/white bone. ⬆️ Captorhinid fragment showing just the base of at least 3 rows of teeth. The broken teeth are the reddish and black donut shapes. ⬆️ This is the small concretion with the Captorhinid teeth. The teeth are located in the bottom goldish blurry blob. You can kinda make out one broken tooth in the top right corner of the goldish blur blob.

Hello everyone. My first post in a while, and I just want to know the authenticity of these fossils that I bought online some time ago. I understand not the flashiest or most compelx, but I would just like to know. Please let me know if you would like better pictures. Mosasaur: Edaphosaurus

Hi! I recently acquired a few new additions to my permian collection, but there are a few pieces of which I am not a 100 % whether they are ID'd correctly, simply because I am not yet knowlegdeable about the material. So I thought it might be a good idea to post the ones I am doubtfull about here, as I know there are a lot of people more knowlegdeable than me who probably could ID them. The first item is a small claw listed as "juvenile dimetrodon limbatus" from the Red Beds, Archer County, Texas, USA I was a bit doubtfull when they said "juvenile" dimetrodon claw, but I got it anyway because it's a very nice permian claw which was an okay price regardless the ID. The second item is a caudal vertebra that was listed as "Edaphosaurus" (from the Archer City Formation, Red Beds, Archer County, Texas, USA) which came as a set along with a piece of sail spine which without doubt belongs to Edaphosaurus. The last items were sold as a collection of "Eryops megacephalus" fossils from the Wellington garbar complex, Waurika, Okhlahoma. From left to right are a piece of skull plate, a toe bone, a piece of dermal armor and a tooth.

I can't find any pictures that focus on Edaphosaurus claws, and I can't zoom in enough on pictures to get a clear visual of any claws, so I can't see any differences between Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus claws are. They're both really small compared to the bodies, so it's hard to see from full body/skeleton pictures, and they wouldn't be from enough angles to be sure. Someone who has dealt with lots of them, including on articulated specimens, has said that they're almost the same, and as far as he knows, but isn't 100% sure about it, the biggest difference, the only one he is aware of, is that Dimetrodon claws are curved on the bottom, like raptor/general theropod claws, while Edaphosaurus claws, equally sharp, are mostly flat on the bottom, like spino toe claws. Is that the case? Does anyone happen to know?

Hey everyone, this is for anything Sphenacodont--dimetrodon, or otherwise. Collections/pictures/discussions/whatever. This is the splinter thread off of the sphenacodont collections thread, so if anyone would like to bring over anything from the other thread, please feel free. I'm going to bring over some interesting posted info that covered different topics, and with links to interesting and useful info. *some discussions covering other things and animals in relation to sphenacodonts is perfectly fine. For instance, spinosaurus, Permian topics, apex predators, or whatever. As long as it has some relation. Side-tracking is fine, just bring it back home before too long, please. Here's a link to the previous thread. It would be greatly appreciated if you post pictures of any dimetrodon/sphenacodont fossil material you have:)

Hey gang, Finally getting around to posting an update on the newest skeleton. Still finding time to dig everyday for at least two hours during the week and full dig days on the weekend. And run the museum. And give tours. And make lunch. And sleep one hour a week. But whose complaining... Daphy Valley is turning out to be a pretty intense area; loaded with bone. We have over a dozen microsites now in the valley with at least 4 Edaphosaurs in mixed articulation and completeness. We have 5 Daphy humeri now, ranging from infant to big adult. The ontogeny studies they will provide is going to be great. Planning on having a least two or three thin sections taken to check on growth cycles. Should be fun to see how they were aging. Leroy is the newest skeleton I found about two weeks ago. Started with a single vert peeping out from the soil. Turned out to be 4 articulated lumbars. After jacketing and getting into the lab, it turns out the verts had rolled, so the neural spines were pointing straight down and were attached in the jacket. TOO COOL. Last few days we have two more sections of articulated verts and ton of neural spine crossbar pieces that are slowly going together. Nifty. Boy these guys were weird. Why the heck do they need to invest in soooo muuuchhh bone??? And the knobby spines were dense!! GEEZZ. Makes 'em so heavy... dunno. Cope said they were fer power sailing. Probably. Unlike many of the previous photos I've attached, these are a bit harder to visualize. The bones have caliche on them making them a bit ugly... but. We can see that the critter was rotting on the surface of the ground, allowing for the soils to do their damage. Luckily the caliche will prep under a needle. Daphy Valley is the first evidence in the Arroyo formation that shows these guys were living communally. Babies, terrible teens, and adults all living together. Eryops is all over the place too; understandably. This correlates with other formation Daphy beds. Both critters living nearby. Daphys near the vegetation on the river bank, and Eryops further in the water system, sticking close to the swampier parts. So far, hundreds of shed Eryops teeth, lots of bones including skull, femurs, ribs by the bucketload, toes (love amphibian toes) and other misc. pieces. Nice skull parts under a jacket now, need to get it out soon. OKEYDOKEY Thats all for now... Best, Chris https://www.flickr.com/photos/45026327@N05/sets/72157647534844609/