Diadectomorpha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diadectomorphs
Fossil range: Late Carboniferous - Early Permian

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Superclass:	Tetrapoda
Superorder:	Reptiliomorpha
(unranked)	Cotylosauria
Order:	Diadectomorpha

Genera

Limnoscelidae
Diadectidae
Tseajaiidae

Diadectomorpha are a clade of large reptile-like tetrapods that lived in Euramerica during the Carboniferous and Early Permian periods, and are very close to the ancestry of the Amniota. They include both large (up to 2 meters long) carnivorous and even larger (to 3 meters) herbivorous forms, some semi-aquatic and others fully terrestrial.

Diadectomorphs possess both amphibian and reptilian characteristics. Originally these animals were included under the order Cotylosauria, and were considered the most primitive and ancestral lineage of reptiles. More recently they have been reclassified as tetrapods, closely related to both reptiles and amphibians.

The Diadectomorpha seem to have evolved during late Mississippian times, although they only became common during the Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian periods.