Synapsids are an unusual grouping of animals, an offshoot of the ancestors of the reptiles that includes all of the mammals and the mammal-like reptiles - also known as proto-mammals. These have their ambiguous name because they don't fit neatly into either category. They include the sail-backed prehistoric 'monsters' Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus, the tusked dicynodonts and the ancestors of all today's mammals. Synapsids ruled the land in the Permian period, becoming the largest and most numerous terrestrial vertebrates. With the exception of the mammals, they were all extinct by the mid-Cretaceous.
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