A new fossil sheds light on the evolution of an aquatic lifestyle in extinct reptiles and supports a close phylogenetic relationship between archosaurs (crocodiles, dinosaurs, birds, and kin) and turtles.

Two therapsid clades, dicynodonts and cynodonts, independently acquired and developed an endotherm-like thermoregulation during the Late Permian period, that probably helped them to survive the major global climate and environmental fluctuations of the end-Permian.