Gaiasia jennyae

Gaiasia is an extinct genus of stem-tetrapods from the Early Permian of Namibia, containing a single species, Gaiasia jennyae. Gaiasia was a freshwater predator which was exceptional among stem-tetrapods for its combination of relatively enormous size, Southern occurrence, and late survival.

Gaiasia jennyae

Neil Pezzoni · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
GaiasiaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At most 25 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 298.9 Mya and 274.4 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 1 occurrencePermian — about 1 of 1 occurrencePermian299–299 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences299–298 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences298–297 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences297–296 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences296–295 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences295–294 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences294–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–293 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences293–292 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences292–291 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences291–290 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences290–289 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences289–288 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences288–288 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences288–287 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences287–286 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences286–285 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences285–284 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences284–283 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences283–282 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences282–282 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences282–281 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences281–280 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences280–279 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences279–278 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences278–277 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences277–276 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences276–276 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences276–275 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences275–274 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences299.4 Mya273.9 Mya

1 occurrence of Gaiasia jennyae on record, most of them in the Permian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Gai-As — 20.73°S, 14.20°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Gaiasia jennyae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Gaiasia jennyae and its relatives

Permian

Where Gaiasia jennyae and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

No other named taxon is catalogued from that site.

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Gaiasia jennyae, and this reads all of them.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Gaiasia jennyae

Credit
Neil Pezzoni
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Gaiasia jennyae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itGaiasia through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsicano et al. 2024