The Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma are a group of Early Permian-age geologic strata in the southwestern United States cropping out in north-central Texas and south-central Oklahoma. They comprise several stratigraphic groups, including the Clear Fork Group, the Wichita Group, and the Pease River Group.[1] The Red Beds were first explored by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope starting in 1877.[2] Fossil remains of many Permian tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates) have been found in the Red Beds, including those of Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, Seymouria, Platyhystrix, and Eryops. A recurring feature in many of these animals is the sail structure on their backs.[3]
- ^ Nelson, John W., Robert W. Hook, and Dan S. Chaney (2013). Lithostratigraphy of the Lower Permian (Leonardian) Clear Fork Formation of North-Central Texas from The Carboniferous-Permian Transition: Bulletin 60, ed. Spencer G. Lucas et al. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, pg. 286-311. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ Cope, E.D. (1878). Descriptions of Batrachia and Reptilia from the Permian Formation of Texas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 17, no. 101, pg. 505-30. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- ^ Dougal, Dixon (2014). The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House. p. 76. ISBN 9781846812095.