The Permian in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Paleontology and geology

A diversity of trace fossils has been found in Permian-age red beds on PEI. These include footprints of early reptiles, such as cotylosaurs and pelycosaurs, and a variety of invertebrate traces. A piece of reptile skull was recovered from the island in the mid-1800s. This fossil was interpreted as a dinosaur, the first ever discovered in Canada. It was later recognized to be a pelycosaur. These animal fossils, as well as plant fossils that occur in these rocks, have helped scientists reconstruct Permian climatic conditions in Maritime Canada. They tell us that PEI and the surrounding region migrated from subtropical latitudes south of the Equator, across the Equator, and into northern subtropical latitudes between the Early Carboniferous and Early Permian.