These fossils belong to some kind of amniote, which is a diverse group of animals represented today by mammals, reptiles and birds. The earliest amniotes were reptiles, and are thought to have ...

Turtles are classified as amniotes, along with other reptiles (including birds) and mammals. Like other amniotes, turtles breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in ...

Amniotes are a large classification of animals that make up the vast majority of living terrestrial and semiaquatic ...

Amniotes split into the sauropsids (leading to birds and reptiles) and synapsids (leading to mammal-like reptiles). These small early mammals developed hair, homeothermy, and lactation (red lines).

Mammals branched off from other amniotes very early. Several mammalian characteristics are ancestral. The first sauropsid diapsid reptile appeared in the fossil record in the Late Carboniferous: a ...