Lopingian

Lopingian is the third of the three epoches of the Permian period. The Lopingian climate was hot and arid. This epoch saw one the largest deserts of all time, in the middle of the supercontinent Pangaea. Monsoons most likely prevailed in the coasts or a little further inland. There were probably fewer glaciers than in the previous epoch. By the beginning of the epoch saw the extinction of the dominating Dinocephalians therapsids and many remaining pelycosaurs. They were replaced by smaller therapsids, the Gorgonopsians, Therocephalians, and the cynodonts. Other animals, such as the Pareiasaurs replaced the herbivorous dinocephalians, while many animals such as tetrapods, insects, etc., were abundant on land as small to medium sized creatures. In the seas, life was abundant. This all came to a sudden halt, when an unknown mass extinction ended Lopingian, and of course the Paleozoic Era. This was the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the greatest mass extinction of the history of earth. The Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event pales on comparison with this event. About 90% of all species in the sea died out, as did over 75% of all land species. By the time the extinction stopped, life on land and sea were virtually empty, although survivors have come to fill the empty void. The era of Paleozoic was over, and the era of Mesozoic era had begun. The epoch is followed by Early Triassic Epoch.