4 Dimetrodon small Fossil Bones Permian Pre-Dinosaur Texas Red Beds TX COA 6463 for Sale

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4 Dimetrodon small Fossil Bones Permian Pre-Dinosaur Texas Red Beds TX COA 6463 For Sale

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4 Dimetrodon small Fossil Bones Permian Pre-Dinosaur Texas Red Beds TX COA 6463:
$29.95

Welcome to Pioneer Fossils!

A Certificate of Authenticity, which has a photo on it of the exact item you purchased, will accompany the specimen. Also, a small color picture of a Dimetrodon. Plus a \"floating\" display stand.

Here are 4 small, but nice rare fossil bone from a Dimetrodon, from the early Permian, between 295 to 272 million years ago. From the Texas Red Beds, Archer County, Texas. The last Dimetrodon became extinct 40 million years before the first dinosaur.

The display stand measures about 2 inches across. Please see photos.

No paint or restoration has been applied.

Dimetrodon was a distant cousin (but cousin nonetheless) to Edaphosaurus, which lived from the Pennsylvanian to the Permian, 303 to 272 million years ago. Many of both species are from the Texas Red Beds and Oklahoma.

Edaphosaurus fossil bones can be purchased separately.

In the 1940’s, Rudolph Zallinger, an art student at Yale University was asked to paint a mural (fresco) “The Age of Reptiles” in the Great Hall of Yale’s Peabody Museum. He had to choose which plants and animals to feature in his 110 foot mural. For his Permian part of the mural, he chose two “sail-back” reptiles to represent it. These animals are Edaphosaurus, and Dimetrodon. They look similar to each other, with each having a large “sail” on its back.

Both Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon had large sail backs, perhaps for heat regulation. However, Dimetrodon’s sail was formed around elongated neural spines that projected from the vertebrae, held together with skin. Edaphosaurus’ sail also had small horizontal cross-bars on the spines.

Neither animal was a dinosaur, both dying out about 40 million years before the first dinosaur. Both were non-mammal synapsids (pelycosaurs), both walked with short legs similar to a crocodile.

Dimetrodon was the apex predator, with some large sharp teeth in its mouth. Edaphosaurus had teeth more suited to crushing and grinding, and it probably ate plants, insects, and possibly mollusks.

Edaphosaurus grew to about 11.5 feet, while the largest Dimetrodon reached 15 feet. The head of the Edaphosaurus was quite a bit smaller than the head of a Dimetrodon.

Both Edaphosaurus and Dimetrodon had a single large opening on each side of the back of the skull, linking them to mammals. Dinosaurs generally had zero or two such holes.

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