HallucicraniaThe group of animals known as the Hallucicrania were the fore runners of those Permian giants, the Pareiasaurs. The name means "bizarre skull" which is an apt description. Skulls of the members of this group look similar to molten blobs of wax with all manner of dips, bumps and ridges on the skull surface. There is nothing alive today that comes close this, and indeed in the whole fossil record they are the strangest looking skulls to be found. Have a look at three different members of this group:
This group evolved into the Pareiasaurs such as Bradysaurus and Scutosaurus along with a myriad of other closely related species. These species all had the bizarre, knobbly skulls that are characteristic of the group, though some were more extreme than others. TurtlesIt is from this group that turtles have been proposed to have evolved. The technical details of this are very specific and difficult to follow, but are summarized as clearly as I can make them here. It is possible though, with a little imagination, to see the barrel chested, armor plated Pareiasaurs developing flippers, pulling their shoulders back into their ribs and forming into turtles. See if you can imagine the pareiasaur on the left with its already heavily armored skin turning into the turtle at the right.
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