evolution of reptiles 🦎🐍

• Amniotic eggs allowed for life on land without the need for water. The hard shell protects, food from the yolk, water and nutrients from albumin and a small version of the mature organism hatches which provide better survival chances. 
• Hylonomus was the first reptile and the first land adapted animal. It evolved during the late carboniferous and was 20cm long, it as insects - feeding on millipedes and land snails. Females laid eggs on moist sheltered land. Fossils have been found in petrified stumps. 
• The first mammals appeared in the late Triassic. They evolved from a reptile group called therapsids. 
• Most early mammals were small, shrew-like creatures that lived in burrows. A few larger mammals have been found alongside dinosaurs. 
• Mammals had amniotic eggs inside the mother. 
• Mammals have distinct jaw structures and the young appear to have no teeth.