Pelycosaur

Pelycosaurs
Temporal range: Pennsylvanian - Capitanian, 308–260.4 Ma Descendant taxon Therapsida survives to present.
Mounted skeleton of Dimetrodon milleri, Harvard Museum of Natural History
Mounted skeleton of Dimetrodon milleri, Harvard Museum of Natural History
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Clade: Reptiliomorpha
Clade: Amniota
Clade: Synapsida
Informal group: †Pelycosauria
Cope, 1878
Groups included
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa

Pelycosaur (/ˈpɛlɪkəˌsɔːr/ 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reptile had been used,[2] and pelycosaur was considered an order, but this is now thought to be incorrect and outdated.

Because it excludes the advanced synapsid group Therapsida, the term is paraphyletic and contrary to modern formal naming practice.[3][4] Thus the name pelycosaurs, similar to the term mammal-like reptiles, had fallen out of favor among scientists by the 21st century, and is only used informally, if at all, in the modern scientific literature.[5][6] The terms stem mammals, protomammals, and basal or primitive synapsids are instead used where needed.

  1. ^ Cope, E. D. (1878). "Descriptions of extinct Batrachia and Reptilia from the Permian formation of Texas". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 17 (101): 505–530. JSTOR 982652.
  2. ^ Carroll, R.L. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. WH Freeman and Company, New York ISBN 0-7167-1822-7
  3. ^ Hennig, Willi (1981). Insect phylogeny. Chichester [England]: J. Wiley. pp. xi + 514. ISBN 0471278483.
  4. ^ D. W. Dilkes, R. R. Reisz (1996). "First Record of a Basal Synapsid ('Mammal-Like Reptile') in Gondwana". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 263 (1374): 1165–1170. doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0170.
  5. ^ Botha-Brink, J.; Modesto, S.P. (2007). "A mixed-age classed 'pelycosaur' aggregation from South Africa: Earliest evidence of parental care in amniotes?". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 274 (1627): 2829–2834. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0803. PMC 2288685. PMID 17848370.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference La10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).