Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small section of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census, making it the 29th-most populous city in Texas; estimates as of July 2018 indicate a population of 120,568 in the city. It is the principal city of the Odessa Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Ector County. The metropolitan area is also a component of the larger Midland–Odessa combined statistical area, which had a 2010 census population of 278,801; a recent report from the United States Census Bureau estimates that the combined population as of July 2015 is 320,513. In 2014, Forbes magazine ranked Odessa as the third-fastest growing small city in the United States.
The Permian Basin is a large sedimentary basin in the southwestern part of the United States. The basin contains the Mid-Continent Oil Field province. This sedimentary basin is located in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. It reaches from just south of Lubbock, past Midland and Odessa, south nearly to the Rio Grande River in southern West Central Texas, and extending westward into the southeastern part of New Mexico. It is so named because it has one of the world's thickest deposits of rocks from the Permian geologic period. The greater Permian Basin comprises several component basins; of these, the Midland Basin is the largest, Delaware Basin is the second largest, and Marfa Basin is the smallest. The Permian Basin covers more than 86,000 square miles (220,000 km2), and extends across an area approximately 250 miles (400 km) wide and 300 miles (480 km) long.
Demosponges are the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include 76.2% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide. They are sponges with a soft body that covers a hard, often massive skeleton made of calcium carbonate, either aragonite or calcite. They are predominantly leuconoid in structure. Their "skeletons" are made of spicules consisting of fibers of the protein spongin, the mineral silica, or both. Where spicules of silica are present, they have a different shape from those in the otherwise similar glass sponges.
The Delaware Basin is a geologic depositional and structural basin in West Texas and southern New Mexico, famous for holding large oil fields and for a fossilized reef exposed at the surface. Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park protect part of the basin. It is part of the larger Permian Basin, itself contained within the Mid-Continent oil province.
Permian High School is a public high school located in Odessa, Texas and is one of three high schools in the Ector County Independent School District. It was the subject of the book Friday Night Lights which in turn inspired a movie and TV series of the same name.
Dissorophidae is an extinct family of medium-sized, temnospondyl amphibians that flourished during the Late Pennsylvanian and early Permian periods in what is now North America and Europe. Despite being amphibians, they seem to be well developed for life on land, with well-developed limbs, solid vertebrae, and a row of armour plates of dermal bone, which both protected the animal and further strengthened the backbone.
Varanops is an extinct genus of Early Permian varanopid synapsids known from Texas and Oklahoma of the United States. It was first named by Samuel Wendell Williston in 1911 as a second species of Varanosaurus, Varanosaurus brevirostris. In 1914, Samuel W. Williston reassigned it to its own genus and the type species is Varanops brevirostris.
Hindeodus is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Anchignathodontidae. The generic name Hindeodus is a tribute to George Jennings Hinde.
Protorothyris is an extinct genus of Early Permian protorothyridid known from Texas and West Virginia of the United States. It was first named by Llewellyn Ivor Price in 1937 and the type species is Protorothyris archeri. P. archeri is known from the holotype MCZ 1532, a three-dimensionally preserved skull and from the referred specimens, which come from four additional individuals, MCZ 2147-2150. All specimens were collected in the Cottonwood Creek site, from the Archer City Formation, Texas, dating to the Asselian stage of the Cisuralian epoch, about 299-294.6 million years ago. A second species, P. morani, was first named by Alfred Sherwood Romer in 1952 with its own generic name, Melanothyris. In 1973, J. Clark and Robert L. Carroll recombined P. morani as a Protorothyris species. It is known from the holotype CM 8617, a three-dimensionally preserved skull. It was collected in the Blacksville site, from the Washington Formation of West Virginia. Protorothyris was the size of the average lizard, about 30 cm in length.
Broiliellus is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Dissorophidae. Broiliellus is most closely related to the genus Dissorophus, and both have been placed in the subfamily Dissorophinae. Broiliellus is known from five species from the Early Permian: the type species is Broiliellus texensis, and the other species are Broiliellus brevis,Broiliellus olsoni, Broiliellus arroyoensis, and Broiliellus reiszi. An additional species, Broiliellus novomexicanus, which was originally named Aspidosaurus novomexicanus, is now thought to fall outside the genus as a member of the subfamily Eucacopinae.
Crossotelos is an extinct genus of nectridean lepospondyl within the family Urocordylidae. It contains a single species, Crossotelos annulatus.
Brachystelechidae is an extinct family of Early Permian microsaurs. The family was first named by Robert L. Carroll and Pamela Gaskill in 1978, with the only member being Brachystelechus fritschi. Brachystelechus fritschi has since been reassigned to the genus Batropetes. Three genera are currently assigned to the family: Batropetes, from Germany; Carrolla, from Texas; and Quasicaecilia, also from Texas.
Incisimura is an extinct genus of sea sponges in the family Guadalupiidae, that existed during the Permian period in what is now Texas, United States. It was described by Robert M. Finks in 2010, and the type species is Incisimura bella.
Guadalupia is an extinct genus of sea sponges. It includes a number of extinct species including: Guadalupia auricula, G. cupulosa, G. ramescens, G. microcamera, and G. vasa.
Cystothalamia is an extinct genus of sea sponges in the family Guadalupiidae that existed during the Permian and Triassic in what is now Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Croatia, Iran, Italy, Russia, Thailand, Tunisia, the United States, and Venezuela. It was described by G.H. Girty in 1909, and the type species is Cystothalamia nodulifera.
Ashley Rae Fink is an American actress and singer, known for her role as Lauren Zizes in the television series Glee, and also as Carter McMahon in Huge.
Parioxys is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Permian of Texas. The genus includes the type species Parioxys ferricolus, named by paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1878, and the species Perioxys bolli, named by paleontologist Robert L. Carroll in 1964. Parioxys was first classified as a close relative of Eryops, another temnospondyl from Texas, and was later assigned to the family Trematopidae. In 1955, Parioxys was placed as the sole member of the newly erected family Parioxyidae. Parioxys is now considered a closer relative of Eryops than trematopids, and both Parioxys and Eryops are placed in the group Eryopoidea.
The Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma are a group of Early Permian-age geologic strata in the southwestern United States outcropping in north-central Texas and south-central Oklahoma. They comprise several stratigraphic groups including the Clear Fork Group, the Wichita Group, and the Pease River Group. The Red Beds were first explored by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope starting in 1877. Fossil remains of many Permian tetrapods have been found in the Red Beds, including those of Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, Seymouria, Platyhystrix and Eryops. A recurring feature in many of these animals is the sail structure on their back.
