The Joint

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

California State University San Bernardino

Museum der Natur

Early Permian Bromacker Project

Orobates pabsti, a new genus and species of diadectomorph from the

Early Permian Bromacker Locality of central Germany

The Early Permian Bromacker Project is a joint effort by Dr. David S Berman and Amy Henrici of the Carnegie Musuem of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dr. Stuart S. Sumida of CSUSB, and Dr. Thomas Martens of the Museum der Natur, Gotha, Germany. In collaboration with other colleagues from American, German, Canadian instutions, they are documenting the newly discovered taxa and paleoecology as demonstrated by the locality. The locality has produced the best preserved, and most important collection of Early Permian tetrapod skeletons anywhere in the world.

The Bromacker locality has produced amongst the best preserved example of Early Permian Terrestrial vertebrates ever found. Remarkably well preserved skeletons of the terrestrial amphibian Seymouria sanjuanensis, the diadectomorphs Diadectes and Orobates, the sail-backed pelycosaur Dimetrodon, and the earliest known bipedal reptile, Eudibamus cursoris are but a fraction of the taxa known from the locality.

The Bromacker locality is the remains of an intermontane graben, preserving the first well-characterized upland, completely terrestrial ecosystem described. Its Early Permian age makes it particularly important in establishing the initial features of the first truly terrestrial ecosystems.

The Personnel

The primary investigators for the Early Permian Bromacker Project are:

Dr. David S Berman – Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Ms. Amy Henrici – Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Dr. Thomas Martens – Museum der Nature, Gotha, Germany

Dr. Stuart Sumida – California State University San Bernardino

Partial sail of the first specimen of the sail-backed pelycosaur Dimetrodon every found in Europe.

Specimen from the Early Permian Bromacker Locality of central Germany

Numerous colleagues from a variety of international institutions are collaborating with the primary investigators. They include: Dr. Jason Anderson, University of Calgary; Dr. David Eberth, Royal Tyrrell Museum; Mr. Hagen Hopf, Thuringian Geological Survey; Mr. Richard Kissel, Field Museum of Natural History; Dr. Elizabeth Rega, Western University of Health Science; Dr. Robert Reisz and Ms. Diane Scott, University of Toronto.

Publications:

The following publications are either a direct or indirect result of the ongoing Bromacker Project. (Please note, this website is still under development. PDFs of most of the publications will be available in the near future.)

Berman, D. S, an. d T. Martens. 1993. First occurrence of Seymouria (Amphibia: Batrachosauria) in the Lower Permian Rotliegend of central Germany. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 62:63-79. [PDF]

Sumida, S. S., D. S Berman, and T. Martens. 1996. Biostratigraphic correlations between the Lower Permian of North America and central Europe using the first record of an assemblage of terrestrial tetrapods from Germany. PaleoBios, 17:1-12. [PDF]

Sumida, S. S., D. S Berman, and T. Martens. 1998. A new trematopid amphibian from the Lower Permian of central Germany. Palaeontology, 41:605-629. [PDF]

Berman, D. S., S. S. Sumida, and T. Martens. 1998. Diadectes (Diadectomorpha, Diadectidae) from the Early Permian of central Germany, with description of a new species. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 67:53-93. [PDF]

Berman, D. S, A. Henrici, S. S. Sumida, and T. Martens. 2000. Redescription of the Early Permian German Seymouria sanjuanensis (Seymouriamorpha) based on complete, mature specimens with discussion of paleoecology of the Bromacker locality assemblage. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:253-268. [PDF]

Eberth, D. A., D. S Berman, S. S. Sumida, and H. Hopf. 2000. Lower Permian terrestrial paleonenvironments and vertebrate paleoecology of the Tambach Basin (Thuringia, Central Germany): The upland Holy Grail. Palaios, 15:293-313. [PDF]

Berman, D. S, R. R. Reisz, D. Scott, A. C. Henrici, S. S. Sumida, and T. Martens. 2000. Early Permian bipedal reptile. Science, 290:969-972. [PDF]

Berman, D. S, R. R. Reisz, T. Martens, and A. C. Henrici. 2001. A new species of Dimetrodon (Synapsida: Sphenacodontidae) from the Lower Permian of Germany records first occurrence of genus outside North America. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 38:803-812. [PDF]

Berman, D. S, A. C. Henrici, R. Kissel, S. S. Sumida, and T. Martens. 2004. Orobates pabsti, a new diadectomorph tetrapod from the Early Permian of central Germany. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 35:1-36. [PDF]

Berman, D. S, A. C. Henrici, S. S. Sumida, and T. Martens. 2004. New materials of Dimetrodon teutonis (Synapsida: Sphenacodontidae) from the Early Permian of central Germany. Annals of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 73:48-56. [PDF]

Sumida, S. S., D. S Berman, D. A. Eberth, and A. C. Henrici. 2004, scheduled, in press. A terrestrial assemblage from the Late Palaeozoic of central Germany and its bearing on Lower Permian palaeoenvironments. Fossils and Strata: 50:1-11. [PDF]

Abstracts:

Sumida, S. S., D. S Berman, and T. Martens. 1992. A North American-type terrestrial tetrapod assemblage from the Lower Permian of central Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 12:54A

S. Sumida, D. S Berman, and T. Martens. 1994. A trematopsid amphibian from a terrestrial red-bed deposit of the Lower Permian of central Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 14:48A.

Sumida, S. S. 1994. Correlation between the Lower Permian of North America and central Europe using the first record of an assemblage of terrestrial tetrapods. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Cordilleran Section, 26:97.

Sumida, S. S. 1996. Reinterpreting the morphological diversity of early amniotes: new information from European and North American Paleozoic fossils. American Zoologist, 36:23A

Sumida, S. S. and D. S Berman. 1996. Similarities and differences between Late Paleozoic fossil tetrapod assemblages of central Europe and the United States: Implications for Pangean landforms during the Lower Permian. Special Publication of the Paleontological Society, Proceedings of the North American Paleontological Congress, No. 8, p. 378.

Sumida, S. S., and D. S Berman. 1997. An early reptile with asymmetrical limbs: possible evidence for the earliest facultative biped or vertical climber from the Lower Permian of Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17:79-80A.

Sumida, S. S. and D. S Berman. 1998. The Early Permian amphibian family Seymouriamorpha: morphological, phylogenetic, and biogeographic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18:33A.

Sumida, S. S., D. A. Eberth, and D. S Berman. 1999. “Dissecting a Late Paleozoic vertebrate paleoenvironment: identification of a truly terrestrial ecosystem component. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 19:79A.

Sumida, S. S. 2000. Refining the concept of the Late Paleozoic chronofauna: Early Permian vertebrates of the earliest exclusively terrestrial ecosystem. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:65A

Sumida, S. S., D. S Berman, A. C. Henrici, and T. Martens. 2001. The morphological diversification of taxa near the amphibian to amniote transition: new data from remarkably preserved fossils from the Lower Permian of central Germany . Journal of Morphology, 248(3):289.

Sumida, S. S., D. S Berman, A. C. Henrici, R. Kissel, D. A. Eberth, and T. Martens. 2002. Origins of the modern terrestrial vertebrate ecosystem documented by an Early Permian assemblage from Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22:112A-113A.

Funding Acknowledgments:

The research activities at the Bromacker locality have been supported generously by a series of grants from the National Geographic Society, as well as two from NATO. The Museum der Nature, the Graham Netting fund at the Carnegie Museum, and the CSUSB campus, have also provided funding support.

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