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Description
Still on the old mammal-ancestor theme. Ianthasaurus was one of the first sail-backed animals to live on land. It dates from the late Carboniferous period, about 302 million years ago. It was rather small, reth.aching 75 cm/30" in length. Despite looking very similar, it was nog closely related or ancestral to the well-known sail-backed Dimetrodon. Instead, it was on the line leading to the almost-as-well-known sailback, Edaphosaurus. But unlike its descendant, Ianthasaurus was apparenly not a plant-eater, but more likely caught and ate insects. Like Edaphosaurus, the vertebrate struts supporting the supposed sail, have sideways-projections along their length. We still don't know what these sails were for. I portray it here basking in the sun - the sail might have helped them warm up. Or it might have been for display rather than for any practical funtion.

Ianthasaurus, sad to say, was on a branch of the synapsid tree that came to a fairly quick dead end. But its relatives like Haptodus were fruitful in giving rise to new species, eventually leading to true mammals.

Description
Still on the old mammal-ancestor theme. Ianthasaurus was one of the first sail-backed animals to live on land. It dates from the late Carboniferous period, about 302 million years ago. It was rather small, reth.aching 75 cm/30" in length. Despite looking very similar, it was nog closely related or ancestral to the well-known sail-backed Dimetrodon. Instead, it was on the line leading to the almost-as-well-known sailback, Edaphosaurus. But unlike its descendant, Ianthasaurus was apparenly not a plant-eater, but more likely caught and ate insects. Like Edaphosaurus, the vertebrate struts supporting the supposed sail, have sideways-projections along their length. We still don't know what these sails were for. I portray it here basking in the sun - the sail might have helped them warm up. Or it might have been for display rather than for any practical funtion.

Ianthasaurus, sad to say, was on a branch of the synapsid tree that came to a fairly quick dead end. But its relatives like Haptodus were fruitful in giving rise to new species, eventually leading to true mammals.