Edaphosauridae is a family of mostly large (up to 3 meters or more)
Late Carboniferous to
Early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to:
* The year 2001, or any year ending with 01
* The month of January
* 1 (number)
Music
* '01 (Richard Müller album), 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001
* 01 (Son of Dave album), ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000
* 01 (Urban ...
synapsids. Edaphosaur fossils are so far known only from
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and
Europe.
Characteristics
They were the earliest known
herbivorous amniotes and, along with the
Diadectidae, the earliest known herbivorous
tetrapods. The head is small in relation to the bulky body, and there is a tall sail along the back, which may have functioned as a
thermoregulatory
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...
device.
Classification
The interrelationships of Edaphosauridae was investigated in details by David M. Mazierski and Robert R. Reisz (2010). The
cladogram below is modified after their phylogenetic analysis.
Below is a cladogram modified from the analysis of Benson (in press):
References
*
Carroll, R. L. (1988), ''Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution'', WH Freeman & Co.
*
Reisz, R. R., 1986, ''Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie – Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology, Part 17A Pelycosauria'' Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil,
External links
Edaphosauridae
Pennsylvanian first appearances
Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope
Prehistoric synapsid families
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