Mammal-like Reptiles

• Anapsids - Animals with a box-like skull without openings. This group includes the early reptiles of the Carboniferous and Permian periods (and to a limited extent the Triassic period), and includes animals such Scutosaurus. This group may also include turtles, however many scientists believe that turtles are actually descended from Diapsid reptiles which lost their skull openings.
  
  
• Diapsids - Reptiles with two temporal holes (fenestra) in their skulls, and their descendents. This group includes archosaurs (including crocodilians, dinosaur species and birds), as well as lepidosaurs such as lizards, snakes, and sphenodonts - even though many of these groups have lost one hole (lizards), both holes (snakes), or have heavily modified skulls (birds).
  
  
• Synapsids (also sometimes known as "Theropsids") - Animals with a single temporal opening (fenestra) in theirn skull behind each eye. This group includes many reptiles, known as "mammal-like reptiles", as well as mammals. Some examples of mammal-like reptiles include Cynodonts, Dicynodonts, Gorgonopsians (including Lystrosaurs), Dinocephalians like Estemmenosuchus, Moschops and Struthiocephalus, as well as Pelycosaurs like Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, Sphenacodon, and Varanosaurus.

Mammal-like Reptiles Timeline:

Mammal-like Reptiles were one of the main groups of amniotes, including the ancestors of all modern mammals, and lived between 324 and 100 million years ago

Related Information & Resources

• Prehistoric Animals - Prehistoric and Extinct Animals

Mammal-like Reptile Books

Forerunners of Mammals: Radiation • Histology • Biology (Life of the Past) Indiana University Press Hardcover (352 pages) List Price: $60.00* Lowest New Price: $40.00* Lowest Used Price: $60.36* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 16:09 Pacific 3 Feb 2012 More Info) Click Here Product Description: About 320 million years ago a group of reptiles known as the synapsids emerged and forever changed Earth's ecological landscapes. This book discusses the origin and radiation of the synapsids from their sail-backed pelycosaur ancestor to their diverse descendants, the therapsids or mammal-like reptiles, that eventually gave rise to mammals. It further showcases the remarkable evolutionary history of the synapsids in the Karoo Basin of South Africa and the environments that existed at the time. By highlighting studies of synapsid bone microstructure, it offers a unique perspective of how such studies are utilized to reconstruct various aspects of biology, such as growth dynamics, biomechanical function, and the attainment of sexual and skeletal maturity. A series of chapters outline the radiation and phylogenetic relationships of major synapsid lineages and provide direct insight into how bone histological analyses have led to an appreciation of these enigmatic animals as once-living creatures. The penultimate chapter examines the early radiation of mammals from their nonmammalian cynodont ancestors, and the book concludes by engaging the intriguing question of when and where endothermy evolved among the therapsids.

Torrey's Morphogenesis of the Vertebrates By Alan Feduccia Wiley Paperback (517 pages) Lowest New Price: $123.70* Lowest Used Price: $25.00* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 16:09 Pacific 3 Feb 2012 More Info) Click Here Product Description: This updated, streamlined, generously illustrated Fifth Edition of the classic text combines comparative vertebrate anatomy and embryology into one easy reference source. Provides an overview of vertebrate evolution, a preview of vertebrate embryology, six chapters on vertebrate development, and then goes through each organ system from both a morphogenesis and comparative anatomy standpoint. Also includes extensive discussions of vertebrate evolution, a large section on developmental preliminaries, an extensive glossary and a new bibliography.

Applied Palaeontology By Robert Wynn Jones Cambridge University Press Hardcover (448 pages) List Price: $118.00* Lowest New Price: $7.63* Lowest Used Price: $7.63* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 16:09 Pacific 3 Feb 2012 More Info) Click Here Product Description: Palaeontology has developed from a descriptive science to an analytical science used to interpret relationships between earth and life history. This book highlights its key role in the study of the evolving earth, life history and environmental processes. After an introduction to fossils and their classification, each of the principal fossil groups are studied in detail, covering their biology, morphology, classification, palaeobiology and biostratigraphy. The latter sections focus on the applications of fossils in the interpretation of earth and life processes and environments.

Eyewitness: Reptile By Colin McCarthy DK CHILDREN Hardcover (64 pages) List Price: $16.99* Lowest New Price: $7.88* Lowest Used Price: $0.01* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 16:09 Pacific 3 Feb 2012 More Info) Click Here Product Description: Discover the intriguing world of reptiles -- their natural history, habits and lifestyles. Here is an original and exciting new look at the fascinating world of reptiles. Stunning real-life photographs of snakes, crocodiles, lizards and turtles offer a unique "eyewitness" view of some of the world's most curious living creatures, their intriguing characteristics and unusual behavior. See a snake eating a rat, a lizard in mating display, a crocodile's pantry, a baby snake hatching from its egg, and a turtle defending itself. Learn how crocodiles look after their young, how snakes measure the size of their prey, how lizards store fat in their tails, and how chameleons swivel their eyes. Discover how baby reptiles are independent from birth, how snakes are charmed, how geckos walk upside down, how crocodiles swallow stones so they sink under water, how a snake is milked of its venom, and much, much more.

Mammal (DK Eyewitness Books) By Steve Parker DK CHILDREN Hardcover (72 pages) List Price: $16.99* Lowest New Price: $9.83* Lowest Used Price: $6.19* Usually ships in 24 hours* *(As of 16:09 Pacific 3 Feb 2012 More Info) Click Here Product Description: New Look! Relaunched with new jackets and 8 pages of new text! Here is a spectacular and informative guide to the natural world of mammals. Stunning real-life photographs of bushbabies, badgers, wallabies and more offer a unique "eyewitness" view of the natural history of mammal behavior and anatomy. See how newborn mice develop, what the inside of a molehill looks like, what a whale has inside its mouth, how a chinchilla keeps its fur clean, and the only mammals that can fly. Learn how to recognize mammal footprints, why some animals store food in their cheek pouches, why you are a mammal, and how the porcupine frightens its enemies. Discover how camels can walk on sand, what mammals looked like in the Ice Age, why some mammals have spines instead of fur, what whiskers are for, why a wallaby has a pouch, and much, much more!

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