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Pelycosaur (/ ˈ p ɛ l ɪ k ə ˌ s ɔːr / PEL-ih-kə-sor) [1] is an older term for basal or primitive Late Paleozoic synapsids, excluding the therapsids and their descendants. Previously, the term mammal-like reptile had been used, [2] and pelycosaur was considered an order, but this is now thought to be incorrect and outdated.
Therapsida [a] is a clade comprising a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals and their ancestors and close relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more underneath the body, resulting in a more "standing" quadrupedal posture, as opposed to the lower sprawling posture of ...
Pelycosaurs — all synapsids, and all of their descendants, except for therapsids – the eventual ancestor of mammals. The pelycosaurs included the largest land vertebrates of the Early Permian , such as the 6 metre (20 foot)-long Cotylorhynchus hancocki .
Originally descript as an anomodont therapsid by Olson & Beerbower (1953) and Olson (1962), it lacks any diagnostic features of anomodonts and rather represent pelycosaur-grade synapsids [18] Dimetrodon. Cope. 1878. Valid. Early Permian [19] - Middle Permian. United States of America [19] and Germany [20] Diopaeus. Cope 1892. Syn. N/A N/A ...
However, they were accompanied by the early archosaurs (soon to give rise to the dinosaurs). Some of these archosaurs, such as Euparkeria, were small and lightly built, while others, such as Erythrosuchus, were as big as or bigger than the largest therapsids. After the Permian extinction, the synapsids did not count more than three surviving ...
Fine-tuning the evolution of therapsids during the early part of the Permian Period (299 million to 252 million years ago) is particularly important for tracing the ancestry of mammals, ...
Archosaurs quickly diversified in the aftermath of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (~252 Ma), which wiped out most of the then-dominant therapsid competitors such as the gorgonopsians and anomodonts, and the subsequent arid Triassic climate allowed the more drought-resilient archosaurs (largely due to their uric acid-based urinary system ...
The archosaurs became the dominant group during the Triassic period, developing into the well-known dinosaurs and pterosaurs, as well as the pseudosuchians. The Mesozoic is often called the "Age of Reptiles", a phrase coined by the early 19th-century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who recognized the dinosaurs and the ancestors of the ...