The Capitanian extinction
A mass extinction large enough to rank among the great ones, and long mistaken for part of the next.
- When
- Known to
- ± 2 million years
- Era
- Permian, Paleozoic
Around 259 million years ago, reefs collapse, fusulinid foraminifera are devastated and the dinocephalian therapsids are wiped out. For decades the losses were lumped in with the end-Permian event; better dating separated them, revealing a distinct crisis coincident with the Emeishan eruptions. Some researchers now argue it deserves inclusion among the major mass extinctions in its own right.