The Relationships between Reptiles and Other Animals Past and Present

Introduction
Reptiles are the most diverse group of land vertebrates with nearly 8000 representative species. There were many more ancient groups of reptiles which are now extinct, but still form part of the reptile family tree. One can only begin to understand the similarities between reptiles and other classes of animals by going into the past, to understand what groups of animals diverged from the different reptile lineages and at what time. This article requires us to delve into the realms of paleontology; this can be an interesting field for herpetologists as there are many interesting and unique extinct reptile species which had physical features and behaviors that are not seen in modern reptiles.

The Beginning
Reptiles evolved from amphibians around 310 million years ago in a time period known as the Carboniferous period, the worlds major coal fields were laid down at this time. These reptiles would have started out as primitive lizard like creatures. They flourished and dominated the landscape during this period, evolving into many diverse species. These reptiles would have lived in a warmer climate than today. The vegetation would have been consisted of giant club moss trees and ferns; there would have been no grass or flowering plants. A time traveler you would not have been able to give a bouquet of flowers as a gift until the late Cretaceous.

The Rise and Fall of the Mammal Like Reptiles

The Permian period lasting from 300 to 250 million years ago gave rise to a branch of reptiles called Mammal Like Reptiles. These animals are a branch of reptiles which had certain traits in common with mammals such as a fused lower jaw and an upright stance which would resemble that of a dog rather than a lizard whose belly nearly reaches the ground. Mammal Like Reptiles were highly successful and were the dominate group of animals at the time. These reptiles turned out to be a dead end in the history of reptiles as they were wiped out along with 90 percent of life on earth during the Permian mass extinction 250 million years ago. This was the first mass extinction that reptiles survived. Actual mammals only appeared in the late Cretaceous over 100 million years after the Mammal Like Reptiles went extinct.

Enter the Triassic and the Rise of the Dinosaurs

The Triassic Period was the hottest period in earths history as the temperature had increased by a world average of 20 degrees Celsius during the Permian extinction. Reptiles thrived on the super continent Gondwanaland. The reptiles then branched of into two groups: The lizard like reptiles and the Crocodile/Dinosaur/Bird group of reptiles. Tortoises, Turtles and Terrapins are a separate branch. The first Dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic having branched of from other reptiles. Dinosaurs have more in common with crocodiles and birds than with lizards or snakes. Reptiles and Dinosaurs faced another mass extinction in the late Triassic 200 million years ago, both groups survived.

The Jurassic: Modern Reptile Orders Complete and Further Diversification of the Lizard like Reptiles
By the mid Jurassic the modern orders of reptiles had become complete with the appearance in the fossil record of the last reptiles to evolve the snakes at around 100 million years ago. In the Jurassic flying reptiles (Pterodactyls) and marine reptiles (Plesiosaurs and Mososaurs) branched off from the lizard like reptiles, these reptiles are more closely related to lizards than dinosaurs. Dinosaurs diversified further during this time.

The Cretaceous Mass Extinction and the Appearance of Birds

A meteorite collided into earth 65 million years ago causing a mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs and the flying and marine reptiles. This is the third mass extinction that reptiles survived. Birds branched off from the dinosaurs and have now been recognized as their direct ancestors. All living and extinct reptiles, Dinosaurs, Crocodiles and birds have been placed in a group called the Sauropsids. All these animals can be placed together, as they have similarities with each other that they do not have with any other group of animals. Birds are placed in this group as they have more in common with reptiles than they do with mammals. Some authorities consider birds to be reptiles. The above conclusion is based on Cladism. A clade is set of animals consisting of an ancestor and all its descendants. This is a new form of taxonomy which is considered more accurate for scientific classification but far more complicated than standard taxonomy. Read more about reptiles on the authors Blog