Lower Triassic
The massive extinctions that ended the Paleozoic era caused extreme hardship for the surviving species. Many types of corals, brachiopods, molluscs, echinoderms, and other invertebrates had completely disappeared. The most common hard-shelled marine invertebrates were bivalves, gastropods, ammonites, echinoids, and a few articulate brachiopods. The most common land animal was the herbivorous synapsid Lystrosaurus.