#amniote

[alphynix]

This is the oldest fossilized reptile skin ever found — it pre-dates the dinosaurs

Permian-period petroleum helped to preserve minute scraps of pebbly hide that probably belonged to a lizard-like creature.

[llamhigyn-y-dwr]

@amniote replied to your post “Patrick has a similar face/nose shape as Oscar...”:

and they’re both dl gays

​I was going to be decent and not include that part, but, I mean...

[harpagornis]

Two commissions by @theenatiornithebandwagon

1- A Haast's eagle sharing a drink with a moa. Inspired by the recent depictions of tyrannosaurs drinking alongside herbivores in paleomedia.

2- A hypothetical ancestral amniote. It appears amniotes were ancestrally endothermic, so here's a hypothetic fuzzy one. Note that I don't necessarily believe they were coated in fur, just a fun hypothetical exercise, though bird scales are actually stunted feathers so what would that mean for the scales of lepidosaurs, turtles and crocodilians among others?

[vickysaurus-art]

On a moonlit night in the early Carboniferous, two Pulmonoscorpius do a mating dance in the Lepidodendron swamp. Although the giant scorpions have little interest in prey right now, a Balanerpeton amphibian wisely decides to swim away, while several Casineria sleep through the night in the copious tree litter.

[zef-zef]

NGHTCRWLR - HiSeq_3 Daymare from: NGHTCRWLR - Let The Children Scream (Amniote, 2020)

[katborg82]

Happy Easter everyone! While you may never see a bunny laying colorful eggs, it may come as a surprise that once upon a time, egg-laying mammals were the norm. In fact, it wasn't until as recently as about 140 Mya that mammals started giving live birth. In fact some mammals, like the echidna and platypus, still lay eggs today.

Morganucodon (Glamorgan Tooth), was a very small, early mammaliform that lived from the late Triassic to the middle Jurassic (~205-163 Mya). This primitive mammal's skull was only about 2-3 cm in length, and it had the appearance of a mouse or shrew. It is thought to have been a burrower, and its eggs were probably small and leathery, much like the eggs of modern monotremes.

The amniotic egg was an important milestone in the evolution of life. While amphibians still lay their jelly like spawn in the water, later tetrapods would adapt a more advanced egg with a protective shell. This would allow these animals to live further inland, without needing to rely on the water so much. We think these amniotes diverged during the Carboniferous about 312 Mya, but since eggs typically don't fossilize well, our earliest fossil evidence of eggs don't appear until about 195 Mya, a group of fossilized eggs laid by stem Sauropod dinosaurs in the early Jurassic.

The amniotes would split into two major groups, the Synapsids and Sauropsids. The ancestors of today's mammals and reptiles respectively.

[losprimeros]

atheris - instant molting 2.0 / red pill [ZRS-2]

[vickysaurus]

A long, long time ago, back in the Carboniferous, one species of little amniotes was split in two. As their paths diverged, one group’s descendants became the sauropsids - such as reptiles, birds, and other dinosaurs - and the other group’s descendants became the synapsids - such as therapsids, cynodonts, and mammals. As the millions of years stretched on, our two clades have shared the same planet and lived alongside each other as each evolved into ever new and fascinating forms.

(in every panel, there’s a sauropsid on the left and a synapsid on the right)

-In the Permian, a Titanophoneus looks up in wonder as a Weigeltisaurus glides overhead.

-In the Triassic, a Coelophysis and a Kataigidodon cautiously share a bite of a large piece of carrion they both found.

-In the Jurassic, a Maiopatagium glides around a feeding Mamenchisaurus, hunting the insects attracted by the huge sauropod.

-In the Cretaceous, a Didelphodon captures a young Bambiraptor.

-In the Paleogene, a Picavus rests for a moment on the head of a Paraceratherium.

-In the Neogene, a Titanis hunts a Cormohipparion.

-In the Quaternary, a human gives her pet cockatiel scritches.