Guadalupian in the context of Wolfcampian

The Capitanian mass extinction, also known as the end-Guadalupian, Guadalupian-Lopingian, or pre-Lopingian extinction began around 262 million years ago with its most intense pulse peaking at 259 million years ago, marking the end of the Capitanian stage and Guadalupian (Middle Permian) epoch of the Permian. Historically conflated with the better-known Permian–Triassic extinction, it was only recognised as a distinct event in 1994. Despite this, the mass extinction is believed to be the third-largest of the Phanerozoic in terms of the percentage of genera (33-35%) and species (60-63%) lost after the end-Permian and Late Ordovician mass extinction, while being the fifth worst in terms of ecological severity. The global nature of the Capitanian mass extinction has been called into question by some palaeontologists as a result of some analyses finding it to have affected only low-latitude taxa in the Northern Hemisphere.

Therapsida is a clade comprising a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals and their ancestors and close relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more underneath the body, resulting in a more "standing" quadrupedal posture, as opposed to the lower sprawling posture of many reptiles and amphibians.

Therapsids evolved from earlier synapsids commonly called "pelycosaurs", specifically within the Sphenacodontia, more than 279.5 million years ago. They replaced the pelycosaurs as the dominant large land animals in the Guadalupian through to the Early Triassic. In the aftermath of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, therapsids declined in relative importance to the rapidly diversifying archosaurian sauropsids (pseudosuchians, dinosaurs and pterosaurs, etc.) during the Middle Triassic.

Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typically toothless beak, unique amongst all synapsids. Dicynodonts first appeared in Southern Pangaea during the mid-Permian, ca. 270–260 million years ago, and became globally distributed and the dominant herbivorous animals in the Late Permian, ca. 260–252 Mya. They were devastated by the end-Permian mass extinction that wiped out most other therapsids ca. 252 Mya. They rebounded at beginning of the following Triassic, but subsequently declined and died out towards the end of that period. They were the most successful and diverse of the non-mammalian therapsids, with over 80-90 genera known, varying from rat-sized burrowers to elephant-sized browsers.

Holostei is a group of ray-finned bony fish. It is divided into two major clades, the Halecomorphi, represented by the single living genus, Amia with two species, the bowfins (Amia calva and Amia ocellicauda), as well as the Ginglymodi, the sole living representatives being the gars (Lepisosteidae), represented by seven living species in two genera (Atractosteus, Lepisosteus). The earliest members of the clade, which are putative "semionotiforms" such as Acentrophorus and Archaeolepidotus, are known from the Middle to Late Permian and are among the earliest known neopterygians.

Holostei was thought to be regarded as paraphyletic. However, a recent study provided evidence that the Holostei are the closest living relatives of the Teleostei, both within the Neopterygii. This was found from the morphology of the Holostei, for example presence of a paired vomer. Holosteans are closer to teleosts than are the chondrosteans, the other group intermediate between teleosts and cartilaginous fish, which are regarded as (at the nearest) a sister group to the Neopterygii.

In the geologic timescale, the Capitanian is an age or stage of the Permian. It is also the uppermost or latest of three subdivisions of the Guadalupian Epoch or Series. The Capitanian lasted between 264.28 and 259.51 million years ago. It was preceded by the Wordian and followed by the Wuchiapingian.

A significant mass extinction event occurred at the end of this stage, which was associated with anoxia and acidification in the oceans and possibly caused by the volcanic eruptions that produced the Emeishan Traps. This extinction event may be related to the much larger Permian–Triassic extinction event that followed about 10 million years later.

The Cisuralian, also known as the Early Permian, is the first series/epoch of the Permian. The Cisuralian was preceded by the Pennsylvanian and followed by the Guadalupian. The Cisuralian Epoch is named after the western slopes of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan and dates between 298.9 ± 0.15 – 274.4 ± 0.4 Ma.

In the regional stratigraphy of southwestern North America, the Cisuralian encompasses two series: the Wolfcampian (Asselian to mid-Artinskian) and Leonardian (mid-Artinskian to Kungurian).

The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period. The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between Hartlepool and South Shields. The term has now been discontinued in formal use though it appears widely in popular and scientific literature on the geology of northern England.

The Magnesian Limestone is now incorporated within the Zechstein Group. In the southern part of its outcrop, the former 'Lower Magnesian Limestone' is now referred to as the 'Cadeby Formation'. Overlying this it is the 'Edlington Formation' (formerly the 'Middle Permian Marl') and above this the Brotherton Formation (formerly the 'Upper Magnesian Limestone'). In the north, the Lower Magnesian Limestone is now referred to as the Raisby Formation and the middle Magnesian Limestone as the Ford Formation. The Upper Magnesian Limestone is replaced by the Roker Formation (in its lower part) and the Seaham Formation (in its upper part) with the Edlington formation between them, though in the Durham area this last is replaced by the Fordham Evaporite Formation and the Seaham Residue.