Tetrapod fossils from the Late Permian of Shanxi Province, China.
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Chinese Permian Tetrapods have been known for decades. Dicynodon sinkianensis, now revised as Jimusaria sinkianensis, from the Guodikeng Formation of Xinjiang was the first to be reported 1934. Later, Dicynodonts were reported from the Quanzijie Formation and Wutonggou Formation of Xinjiang as well. In North Qilian area, a Dicynodont species, Dicynodon sunanensis, was described from the Sunan Formation and revised as Turfanodon bogdaensis or Turfanodon sunanensis subsequently. However, no Pareiasaur fossils have been reported from Xinjiang. In Inner Mongolia, many Tetrapod specimens have been discovered and at least four Dicynodont species and one Pareiasaur species are present in Daqingshan County. In North China, the upper Permian Sunjiagou Formation and Shangshihezi (Upper Shihhotse) Formation have the widest exposure of all contemporaneous deposits, and their distributions are adjacent to the Daqingshan area. Many Pareiasaur species have been named for the specimens from the above formations, however, no Dicynodonts have been reported. The only known Tetrapod locality in the Shangshihezi Formation of Henan Province is dominated by the Pareiasaur Honania. In 2014, a tusked dicynodont snout was collected from the Sunjiagou Formation in Baode, Shanxi, which confirmed the presence of dicynodonts in this stratum. In 2013, a fossil hunter, Bai Zhi-Jun, discovered some bones from Shouyang and Yangquan, Shanxi Province. His initial work led to subsequent discovery of Pareiasaur and Dicynodont specimens from both the Sunjiagou Formation and Shangshihezi Formation.