A large herbivorous synapsid reptile of the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods, with long knobbly spines on its back supporting a sail-like crest.
Genus Edaphosaurus, order Pelycosuria, subclass Synapsida
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Along with the Diadectidae, Edaphosaurus is one of the earliest known plant-eating tetrapods (land-living vertebrates).
Other Edaphosauruses were not so large and some were half a meter or less in length.
Origin
Modern Latin, from Greek edaphos 'floor' + sauros 'lizard'.