Edaphosauridae

Edaphosauridae is a family of mostly large Late Carboniferous to Early Permian synapsids. Edaphosaur fossils are so far known only from North America and Europe. Edaphosaurids transitioned from being small carnivores in their most primitive members into some of the earliest large terrestrial herbivores. They are noted for their neural spine sails on their backs, which unlike those of Dimetrodon exhibit distinctive outwards facing growths.

Edaphosauridae

Andrew Y. Huang · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
EupelycosauriaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 24 million years on record.

The record covers at least 307.4 Mya to 283.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 309.8 Mya to 251.902 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 10 of 49 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 39 of 49 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 49 occurrences311–309 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences309–307 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences307–305 Mya — about 2 occurrences305–303 Mya — about 3 occurrences303–301 Mya — about 3 occurrences301–299 Mya — about 2 occurrences299–297 Mya — about 3 occurrences297–295 Mya — about 3 occurrences295–293 Mya — about 3 occurrences293–291 Mya — about 3 occurrences291–289 Mya — about 3 occurrences289–287 Mya — about 4 occurrences287–285 Mya — about 4 occurrences285–283 Mya — about 3 occurrences283–281 Mya — about 3 occurrences281–279 Mya — about 3 occurrences279–277 Mya — about 3 occurrences277–275 Mya — about 3 occurrences275–273 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences273–271 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences271–269 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences269–267 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences267–265 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences265–263 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences263–261 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences261–259 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences259–257 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences257–255 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences255–253 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences253–251 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences307.4 Mya283.3 Mya311 Mya251 Mya

49 occurrences of Edaphosauridae on record, most of them in the Permian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

49 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

29 formations

Arroyo — 33.77°N, 99.22°WArroyo — 33.70°N, 99.27°WNocona — 33.68°N, 98.70°WNocona — 33.72°N, 98.34°WPittsburgh — 40.04°N, 80.63°WPittsburgh — 40.04°N, 80.66°WArcher City — 33.34°N, 98.39°WArcher City — 33.67°N, 98.69°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WPetrolia — 33.69°N, 99.02°WPetrolia — 33.64°N, 98.90°WBelle Plains — 33.87°N, 98.84°WAbo/Cutler — 36.12°N, 106.62°WAbo/Cutler — 36.16°N, 106.64°WWellington — 36.16°N, 97.34°WWellington — 36.74°N, 97.42°WVale — 33.70°N, 99.60°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WGarber — 36.66°N, 97.69°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WWaggoner Ranch — 33.69°N, 99.02°WHennessey — 34.19°N, 98.79°WGlenshaw — 40.41°N, 79.78°WLueders — 33.78°N, 99.14°WStanton — 38.38°N, 95.26°WEskridge — 40.14°N, 95.88°WSangre de Cristo — 38.47°N, 105.86°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WSlaný — 50.21°N, 13.68°ENiederhäslich-Schweinsdorf — 51.00°N, 13.65°ELaborcita — 33.08°N, 106.08°WRed Knob — 40.41°N, 79.78°W

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The named rock units Edaphosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Edaphosauridae and its relatives

Permian

Where Edaphosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

255 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 40 sites for Edaphosauridae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

28 references

Each of the 49 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 16 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Edaphosauridae

Credit
Andrew Y. Huang
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Edaphosauridae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEupelycosauria through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1882