First known herbivore reptile to evolve.
Name: Edaphosaurus (ed-eff-oh-saw-rus) “pavement lizard”
animal type: synapsid (pelycosaur) repitle
lived: 282-256 mya
size: 3 meters long
found: North America and Europe
fossil: 
This animal looked a heck of a lot like the dimetrodon that I covered a while ago, but the two animals are distantly related and extremely different. The most obvious difference being that one was a ferocious meat eating predator while the edaphosaurus stuck to plants. Until this time all reptiles and amphibians had been carnivorous or insectivorous. Plants don’t hold nearly as much energy and proteins as the meats did - so animals would have to eat a lot more of them than they would meats to extract enough energy to life on.
Animals like the edaphosaurus evolved different features in order to be able to properly tackle the plant life on earth. Their peg-like teeth could tear leaves apart like there was no tomorrow, and could break down twigs and branches with their powerful jaw. Even more teeth were found in the roof of the edaphosaurus’ mouth to further mash up the plant before it reached the stomach.
It’s large body allowed for a lot of food to be taken in at one time. It’s long gut would extract all the nutrients possible from its poor and limited diet of surrounding plants. The edaphosaurus would have liked swampy areas but could have survived in harsher desert climates. Its large sail, like on the dimetrodon, was used to regulate its temperature.
Just three more before dinosaur time!
