Edaphosauridae

Edaphosauridae is a family of mostly large (up to 3 meters or more) Late Carboniferous to Early Permian synapsids. Edaphosaur fossils are so far known only from North America and Europe.

Edaphosauridae Temporal range: Late Carboniferous to Early Permian, ~307–272 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Mounted skeleton of Edaphosaurus pogonias in the Field Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Clade:	Sphenacomorpha
Family:	†Edaphosauridae Cope, 1882
Type species
†Edaphosaurus pogonias Cope, 1882
Genera
†Bohemiclavulus †Edaphosaurus †Gordodon †Glaucosaurus †Ianthasaurus †Lupeosaurus †Melanedaphodon[1] †Ramodendron[2] †Remigiomontanus †Xyrospondylus

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 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.^[3]

Edaphosauridae	Ianthasaurus hardestiorum Glaucosaurus megalops Lupeosaurus kayi Edaphosaurus novomexicanus Edaphosaurus colohistion Edaphosaurus boanerges Edaphosaurus cruciger Edaphosaurus pogonias

Below is a cladogram modified from the analysis of Benson (2012):^[4]

	Tseajaia campi Limnoscelis paludis Amniota Captorhinus spp. Protorothyris archeri Synapsida Ophiacodontidae Varanopidae Caseasauria Ianthodon schultzei Edaphosauridae Ianthasaurus hardestiorum Glaucosaurus megalops Lupeosaurus kayi Edaphosaurus boanerges Edaphosaurus novomexicanus Sphenacodontia Haptodus garnettensis Pantelosaurus saxonicus Therapsida Sphenacodontidae

References

1. Mann, A.; Henrici, A. C.; Sues, H.-D.; Pierce, S. E. (2023). "A new Carboniferous edaphosaurid and the origin of herbivory in mammal forerunners". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 4459. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-30626-8. PMC 10076360.
2. Frederik Spindler, Sebastian Voigt & Jan Fischer (2019) Edaphosauridae (Synapsida, Eupelycosauria) from Europe and their relationship to North American representatives. PalZ (advance online publication) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-019-00453-2 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12542-019-00453-2
3. David M. Mazierski and Robert R. Reisz (2010). "Description of a new specimen of Ianthasaurus hardestiorum (Eupelycosauria: Edaphosauridae) and a re-evaluation of edaphosaurid phylogeny". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 47 (6): 901–912. Bibcode:2010CaJES..47..901M. doi:10.1139/E10-017.
4. Benson, R.J. (2012). "Interrelationships of basal synapsids: cranial and postcranial morphological partitions suggest different topologies". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 10 (4): 601–624. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.631042. S2CID 84706899.

• 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, ISBN 3-89937-032-5

External links

• Edaphosauridae