From the Dinosaur Collector

The Retro Classic Early Permian 

updated 6/17/05

Dimetrodon was a member of the pelycosaur a synapsid reptile related to the ancestors of mammals not a dinosaur which were descended from the diaspid reptiles. Dimetrodon lived long before dinosaurs evolved if the first half of the Permian 290 million years ago. There was about as much time separating Dimetrodon from the birth of the dinosaurs as separates us from their extinction.

Ajax knock off and MPC Dimetrodon PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa. The original Ajax figure did not have a base.

Dimetrodon from its distinctive teeth. Like the later mammals Dimetrodon had differently shaped teeth for different tasks unlike the dinosaurs that generally had one tooth type.

Recast Marx Dimetrodon PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa.

Sphenacodon ferocior was about 225 cm. long and is thought to have weighed 129 kg.  A close relative of Dimetrodon it is thought to have lived in the forested areas where a sail would have been awkward.  It had long vertebrae but no fin.

Left is a Marx Sphenacodon with high lights added.  Right is a resin figure from Zallinger Diorama model donated by Mike Evans.  Sphenacodon doesn't show up often in contemporary play sets.  

Sphenacodon ferox was somewhat smaller and apparently more common  Varanosaurus was another pelycosaur relative without a sail and would have looked superficially like a modern monitor lizard.

Linde Sphenacodon premium originally from an Austrian coffee company.   Varanosaurus and base courtesy of Mike Evans Alchemy works.

Dimetrodon was the dominate predator of its time. It is the most wide spread and commom land animal from the Early Permian.

MPC Dimetrodon and Timmee Dimetrodon PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa. The Timmee is from the later Timmee smooth series.

click on this link for more about Dimetrodon and Permian Amphibians

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