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	Map of Middle Permian site area at Kotel'nich, Russia  Middle Permian site area at Kotel'nich, Russia (after Benton et al.2012).
	Along a relatively straight, south-flowing stretch of the Vyatka River, about 80 km southwest of Kirov, significant layers with Permian fossil deposits are exposed near the town of Kotel`nich. These Middle Permian red beds, composed  of mudstones, siltstones, marl, sandstones, and conglomerates, are exposed on the western bank of the Vyatka river for 24 km between the towns of Kotel`nich and Zemtsy. The Vytaka River is a tributary of the Kama River, which, in turn, is one of the main branches of the Volga River system.  In this area, the Vyatka has cut into an elevated escarpment of Permian rocks, revealing outcrops up to 40 m high of horizontally banded red, yellow, and brown sediments. These strata, comprising ancient riverine deposits, have become one of the best known locations of Permian tetrapod fossils. The whole sequence at Kotel`nich dates from the middle Tatarian stage, in the Severodvinian Horizon. This includes two Tetrapod Zones, those of Deltavjatia vjatkensis and Chroniosaurus dongusensis. Based on comparative stratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy, these correspond to the Late Capitanian stage of the Middle Permian in South Africa and elsewhere, dated at 263-260 mya (Benton et al. 2012). The main reptiles from the Kotel`nich outcrops include Deltavjatia, large plant-eating  pareiasaurs whose fossils are often found in groups. Also found are Suminia, an anomodont with unusually long arms, which may have been one of the first arboreal tetrapods. Other members of the Kotel`nich faunal assemblage are the gorgonopsian Viatkogorgon, and the small insectivore parareptile Emeroleter ("day thief"), part of the Nycteroleteridae family, of which the type genus, Nycteroleter, means "night thief".                                                              Reference: Benton, M.J., A.J. Newell, A.Yu Khlyupin, I.S. Shumov, G.D., Price, and A.A. and Kurkin  2012. Preservation of exceptional vertebrate assemblages in Middle Permian fluviolacustrine mudstones of Kotel'nich, Russia: stratigraphy, sedimentology, and taphonomy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 319-320, pp.58-83.
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