CHORDATES
Below: Complete skeleton o[ a dimetrodon, pelycosaurian reptile o[ the Late
Permian, Texas.
This ring is present in other marine reptiles, such as, for ex-
ample, the Askeptosaurus italicus. The eyes of ichthyosaurs must
have had good vision and were, .in fact, large and located in
large openings. These openings affected the temporal area of
the skull, which was very narrow. On the upper part of the
temporal area was a temporal opening, while the nostrils, as
in a11aquatic forms, were located toward the back, at the be-
ginning of the long snout.
This body structure, so specialized to life in the sea, brought
about important physiological changes in the ichthyosaurs. Since
they could not leave the water to lay their eggs, the ichthyo-
saurs became ovoviviparous, thus giving birth to sma11living
ichthyosaurs encased in a membrane (sac), as demonstrated
by several female specimens found in deposits at Holzmaden
in which the sma11embryos were preserved.
The ichthyosaurs appeared during the Triassic with forms
already so specialized that this group cannot be connected to
any preceding group of reptiles. The origins of these animals
are not, however, unknown: During the Triassic they were
represented by sma11 forms, about one meter (3.3 ft.) long.
These were mixosaurs already specialized for aquatic life but
probably without the strong caudal fin that was typical of the
more evolved forms. Mixosaurs are very abundant in ltalian
deposits at Besano and at Monte San Giorgio, in Switzerland.
Ichthyosaurs more advanced than mixosaurs appeared during
the Early Jurassic and are grouped in the families Ichthyosaur-
idae and Stenopterygiidae, to the first of which belong the most
classic forms of the genera, the Ichthyosaurus. The two fami-
lies survived until the end of the Cretaceous period, with forms
in sizes that varied from 1.5 meters (4.5 ft.) to five meters (16.5
ft.) in length.
216
Subclass Synapsida
The subclass of the synapsids appeared at the beginning of the
evolutionary history of the reptiles, during the Permian (286-
245 million years ago). The members of this group are of fun-
damental importance in the history of the evolution of verte-
brates since they led, presumably during the Triassic, to the
first mammals.
While the first synapsids demonstrate characteristics that tie
them unquestionably to cotylosaur reptiles, from which they
were probably derived, the groups that carne after these most
primitive forms present a cIear tendency toward the acquisi-
tion of mammalian traits, and the most advanced forms show
such strong mammalian characteristics that it is often difficult
to understand where the synapsids end and the mammals be-
gin. They are called mammal-like reptiles.
In general, one can say that during the course of their evo-
lution the synapsids underwent a reduction in the bones of
the skull, the development of differentiated teeth, an enlarge-
ment of the neurocranium, and the creation of columnar (more
directly positioned underneath the body)-a11 traits typical of
the mammals. Thus, the subcIass Synapsida incIudes reptiles
with mammalian traits characterized by a sku11with one lower
temporal hole (synapsid sku11). These are divided in two large
groups: the pelycosaurs, the most ancient and most primitive,
tied by some traits to their cotylosaurian ancestors, and the
therapsids, the most advanced forms.
The pelycosaurs appeared during the Early Permian and lived
throughout that period, becoming extinct at its end. The old-
est are the ophiacodonts, which incIude the genus Ophiacodon,
2.5 meters (8.25 ft.) long, which lived in the lakes and plains
of the Permian, and the genus Varanosaurus, much smaller and