What are Therapsids?

Therapsids (which means "Beast Face") is a class of synappers, animals dominant to Earth in half to late Permian period (about 300 to 251 million years ago). The synappers themselves are one of the two main groups of amniot (animals with egg eggs), the other are sauropsids or real reptiles. Non-scaphy synapsisis, pelycosaurs, were actually dominant during the Permian, but the therapy is significant because they eventually evolved in a mammal, survived the extinction of the chalk-Terciars that killed dinosaurs, and continued in the dominant group of terrestrial vertebátes. This class appeared during the early Permian and is considered part of the first wave of diversity of amniote. Some of them, such as cynodons ("dog teeth"), remarkably resemble modern animals from reptiles). The primary difference is that all therap sycopsy laid eggs. Historically, they were called "mammals similar to reptiles", but are now recognized as different from reptiles and instead are considered basal mammals.These animals are a very confusing area of ​​vertebrate evolution and much less popularized than dinosaurs or crown groups, but necessary to understand the complete image of life on Earth.

There were at least three main Clades the therapsid: Dinocephalians ("Dinosaur Heads"), the least advanced therapy; Herbivoreal anomodons (beaten by herbivores), which were various and many of the permic herbivores; And mostly carnivorous territory, most mammalors and ancestors of all modern mammals. Another group, the carnivorous birosuchians, are either paraphyletic laying - consisting of a northern unrelated group - or consisting of basal offshoots of other therapies. As you can say, the situation is very confusing.

During the extinction of End-Permian 251 million years ago, most therapies were erased together with 95% of all other animal species. For most of the next 190 million years it would be over the entire mezzoicThe period lost in the shadow of dinosaurs - the dominant forms of life on Earth. Only after the Neanian dinosaurs were killed did they reappear as mammals.