Amniotes are tetrapod vertebrate animals belonging to the clade Amniota, a large group that comprises the vast majority of living terrestrial and semiaquatic vertebrates. Amniotes evolved from amphibian ancestors during the Carboniferous period and further diverged into two groups, namely the sauropsids and synapsids. They are distinguished from the other living tetrapod clade — the non-amniote lissamphibians — by the development of three extraembryonic membranes, thicker and keratinized skin, and costal respiration.
Amniote
Archaeothyris, one of the most basal synapsids, first appears in the fossil records about 306 million years ago.
By the Mesozoic, 150 million years ago, sauropsids included the largest animals anywhere. Shown are some late Jurassic dinosaurs, including the early bird Archaeopteryx perched on a tree stump.
A tetrapod is any four-limbed vertebrate animal of the superclass Tetrapoda. Tetrapods include all extant and extinct amphibians and amniotes, with the latter in turn evolving into two major clades, the sauropsids and synapsids. Some tetrapods such as snakes, legless lizards, and caecilians have evolved to become limbless via mutations of the Hox gene, although some do still have a pair of vestigial spurs that are remnants of the hindlimbs.
Tetrapod
Eusthenopteron, ≈385 Ma
Tiktaalik, ≈375 Ma
Acanthostega, ≈365 Ma