Edaphosauridae

Edaphosauridae is a family of mostly large (up to or more) Late Carboniferous to Early Permian synapsids. Edaphosaur fossils are so far known only from North America and Europe.

==Characteristics== They were the earliest known herbivorous amniotes and, along with the Diadectidae, the earliest known herbivorous tetrapods. The head is small in relation to the bulky body, and there is a tall sail along the back, the purpose of which is unknown and a subject of active research and debate, but which was once widely believed to have functioned as a thermoregulatory device.