The Serpukhovian is in the ICS geologic timescale the uppermost stage or youngest age of the Mississippian, the lower subsystem of the Carboniferous.

[4] The Serpukhovian Stage was proposed in 1890 by Russian stratigrapher Sergei Nikitin and was introduced in the official stratigraphy of European Russia in 1974.

The base of the Serpukhovian is informally defined by the first appearance of the conodont Lochriea ziegleri, though the utility and systematic stability of this species is not yet certain.

In the regional stratigraphy of Russia (and Eastern Europe as a whole), the Serpukhovian is subdivided into four substages, from oldest to youngest: the Tarusian, Steshevian, Protvian, and Zapaltyubian.

This extinction came in the form of ecological turnovers, with the demise of diverse Mississippian assemblages of crinoids and rugose corals.

The extinction selectively targeted species with a narrow range of temperature preferences, as cooling seawater led to habitat loss for tropical specialists.

[12][13][14] Sepkoski (1996) plotted an extinction rate of around 23-24% for the Serpukhovian as a whole, based on marine genera which persist through multiple stages.

[21] More recent studies have instead shown that biodiversity surged during the LPIA in what is known as the Carboniferous-Earliest Permian Biodiversification Event (CPBE).