Aerosaurus
Encyclopedia
Aerosaurus is an extinct genus
within Varanopidae
, a family
of non-mammal
ian synapsid
s. It lived from the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian in North America
.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
within Varanopidae
Varanopidae
Varanopidae was a family of synapsid "pelycosaurs" that resembled monitor lizards and might have had the same lifestyle, hence their name. No known varanopids developed a sail like Dimetrodon. Their size varied from lizard-sized to dog-sized creatures. Varanopids already showed some advanced...
, a family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of non-mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
ian synapsid
Synapsid
Synapsids are a group of animals that includes mammals and everything more closely related to mammals than to other living amniotes. They are easily separated from other amniotes by having an opening low in the skull roof behind each eye, leaving a bony arch beneath each, accounting for their name...
s. It lived from the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.