Dimetrodon is often mistaken as a dinosaur. In reality, it was more closely related to mammals and was a top predator millions of years before the dinosaurs made their debut. Original image by Dmitry Bogdanov. Some rights reserved.
In our next episode, out Tuesday, we reexamine the story of who really ruled the Earth first. Clue: it was our ancestors, not dinosaurs.
Reading List:
The Pattern of Life’s History, by Stephen Jay Gould – Edge.org
GSA Geologic Time Scale – The Geological Society of America
Earth's history in the last 600 million years (Continental Drift), by TheBentastic - YouTube
The Carboniferous Period – University of California Museum of Paleontology
Coming of the Amniotes, by Arvind Pillai – Fins to Feet
Interrelationships of basal synapsids: cranial and postcranial morphological partitions suggest different topologies, by Roger B. J. Benson – Journal of Systematic Paleontology
The Fossil Non-mammalian Synapsid Collection at The Field Museum – The Field Museum
Introduction to the Pelycosaurs - University of California Museum of Paleontology
Third Contribution to the History of the Vertebrata of the Permian Formation of Texas, by Edward Drinker Cope – Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
Dimetrodon – Paleos.com
The Permian Period - University of California Museum of Paleontology
Moschops - PrehistoricWildlife.com
Diictodon - PrehistoricWildlife.com
Lycaenops - PrehistoricWildlife.com
Titanophoneus – PrehistoricWildlife.com
Suminia: Life in the Trees 260 Million Years Ago, by Brian Switek – Science Blogs
Massive Volcanic Eruptions Triggered Earth’s “Great Dying,” by Sarah Zielinski – Smithsonian Magazine
Lystrosaurus: The Most Humble Badass of the Triassic, by Annalee Newitz – National Geographic
Cynodonts – BBC Nature
The radiation of cynodonts and the ground plan of mammalian morphological diversity, by Marcello Ruta, Jennifer Botha-Brink, Stephen A. Mitchell, and Michael J. Benton – Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Music Notes (In order of appearance)
Seclorance - Evolution
Nihilore – Shapes Within the Jade
H-LR – End of the Line
Mystery Mammal - He Said, She Said
“Evolution,” “End of the Line” and “He Said, She Said” used under a Creative Commons Attribution International license. “Shapes Within the Jade” used under an Attribution 3.0 Unported license.