Analysis of Early Permian Fauna of the Upland Region of Bally Mountain From Collected Blocks

Abstract

Bally Mountain and her sister site, Richards Spur, both located in Oklahoma, have long been sites for prominent fossil findings of Early Permian upland terrestrial fauna, owing to their unique methods of preservation. These methods, by which remains ended up clustered together in fissure fills, have allowed for fossils to survive the erosive and destructive processes that usually result in little fossil material from upland environments surviving to present day. Fauna from blocks collected at Bally Mountain were analyzed and sorted into taxa. The most common taxon remains were identified as Captorhinikos valensis, a moradisaurine present at wetter Bally Mountain but absent at more arid Richards Spur owing to the two sites? differing climates. Other fauna found in the blocks were those present at both sites: Captorhinus aguti, one of the most prominent members of Richards Spur, Opisthodontosaurus carrolli, Cacops, Delorhynchus, and Doleserpeton.