Pelycosaur
? Pelycosaurs Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||
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| Dimetrodon grandis skeleton at the National Museum of Natural History | ||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
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The pelycosaurs were smallish to large (up to 3 meters or more) primitive Late Paleozoic Synapsid reptiles. They appeared during the Late Carboniferous and reached their acme in the early part of the Permian, remaining the dominant land animals for many millions of years. A few stragglers continued into the late Permian.
At least two pelycosaur clades independently evolved a tall sail, consisting of elongated vertebral spines: the edaphosaurids and the sphenacodontids. In life this would have been covered by skin, and presumably functioned as a thermoregulatory device. Pelycosaur fossils have been found mainly in Europe and North America, although some small late-surviving forms are known from Russia and South Africa.
Well-known pelycosaurs include the genera Dimetrodon, Sphenacodon, Edaphosaurus, and Ophiacodon.
Pelycosauria is a paraphyletic taxon because it excludes the therapsids. Eupelycosauria is used for Pelycosauria and Therapsida, and is monophyletic.