The Permian is a geologic period and system that extends from 299.0 ± 0.8 to 251.0 ± 0.4 Ma (million years before the present) (ICS, 2004). It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era. The Permian period was named after the kingdom of Permia, Russia by Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison in 1841 (not the city of Perm, as commonly misconstrued).