Edaphosauridae
Encyclopedia
Edaphosauridae is a family of mostly large (up to 3 meters or more) advanced, Late Pennsylvanian to early Permian pelycosaurs.
They were the earliest known herbivorous
amniotes, and along with the Diadectidae
the earliest known herbivorous tetrapod
s. 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.
Edaphosaur fossils are so far known only from North America
and Europe
.
They were the earliest known herbivorous
Herbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
amniotes, and along with the Diadectidae
Diadectidae
Diadectidae is an extinct family of large diadectomorph reptiliomorphs. Diadectids lived in North America and Europe during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian. They were the first herbivorous tetrapods, and also the first fully terrestrial animals to attain large sizes. Footprints indicate...
the earliest known herbivorous tetrapod
Tetrapod
Tetrapods are vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are all tetrapods; even snakes and other limbless reptiles and amphibians are tetrapods by descent. The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian...
s. 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
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
device.
Edaphosaur fossils are so far known only from 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...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.