Xenobrachyops is a smallish brachyopid temnospondyl from the Triassic of Queensland. Its world would seem alien to us; there were no flowering trees or grasses, and no mammals or birds. The rise of the dinosaurs was still millions of years in the future. Nearly all the world’s land was joined into a single supercontinent, so it would be theoretically possible to walk almost anywhere. Australia was near the south pole, so the regional climate was highly seasonal. The fact that we’ll never get to witness first-hand the autumn colours of the deciduous Dicroidium forests of this time fills me with a certain sadness.