Description
- Casea broili
- Lower Permian
- Nocona Formation, Wichita Group
- Archer County, Texas
- This is a NICE CLAW from an EXTREMELY RARE Permian Reptile! It will come in the 1.5″ gem jar as shown.
Casea is an extinct genus of pelycosaur synapsid which was about 1.2 metres (4 ft) long, slightly smaller than the otherwise very similar Caseoides. Casea was one of the first terrestrial herbivores, sharing its world with animals such as Casea and Eryops.
Casea had a heavy, rotund, body and a small skull. Its rib cage was greatly expanded, presumably to make space for a large, plant-fermening gut. Like other caseids, it lacked teeth in its lower jaw, and had blunt teeth in the upper jaw. These adaptations indicate that Casea was a herbivore, feeding on relatively tough plants, such as ferns. The explanation for this reptile’s strange build was that it had to pack digestive equipment lengthy enough to process the tough vegetation of the late Permian period into a limited amount of trunk space. In most regards, Casea looked virtually identical to its more famous cousin Edaphosaurus, except for the lack of a sporty-looking sail on its back.
