#lanthanosuchus

Two Synapsids and a Diapsid walk into a bar.... (and their fossilized skulls end up in the Melbourne Museum).

Despite frequently being dubbed “mammal-like reptiles”, early Synapsids (mammals and their ancestors) were not reptiles at all, but rather a different branch of Amniotes (a group including today’s mammals and reptiles) that split off separately from reptiles. 

The lanthanum crocodile, Lanthanosuchus (1946)

Phylum : Chordata Subphylum : Tetrapoda Class : Amphibia Superorder : Parareptilia Superfamily : Lanthanosuchoidea Family : Lanthanosuchidae Genus : Lanthanosuchus Species : L. watsoni

Late Permian (253 Ma)

75 cm long (size)

Tatarstan, Western Russia (map)