Dimetrodon
E686180
Dimetrodon is an extinct sail-backed synapsid from the Early Permian period, often mistaken for a dinosaur but more closely related to mammals.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Dimetrodon canonical | 4 |
| Dimetrodon grandis | 1 |
| Dimetrodon limbatus | 1 |
| Dimetrodon milleri | 1 |
| Dimetrodon natalis | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7748073 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Dimetrodon Context triple: [Edward Drinker Cope, describedTaxa, Dimetrodon]
-
A.
Ophiotaurus
Ophiotaurus is a lesser-known creature from Greek mythology, depicted as a hybrid with the front half of a bull and the tail of a serpent, whose entrails were said to grant power over the gods if burned.
-
B.
Spinosaurus
Spinosaurus is a large, sail-backed theropod dinosaur, popularly depicted as a fearsome aquatic predator in the Jurassic Park franchise.
-
C.
Saurophaganax maximus
Saurophaganax maximus is a large Late Jurassic theropod dinosaur, closely related to Allosaurus, known from fossil remains found in what is now Oklahoma.
-
D.
Othnielosaurus
Othnielosaurus is a small, bipedal ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America, known for its lightly built body and herbivorous diet.
-
E.
Champsosaurus
Champsosaurus was a long-snouted, semi-aquatic reptile from the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene that resembled a modern gharial and belonged to the extinct group Choristodera.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Dimetrodon Target entity description: Dimetrodon is an extinct sail-backed synapsid from the Early Permian period, often mistaken for a dinosaur but more closely related to mammals.
-
A.
Ophiotaurus
Ophiotaurus is a lesser-known creature from Greek mythology, depicted as a hybrid with the front half of a bull and the tail of a serpent, whose entrails were said to grant power over the gods if burned.
-
B.
Spinosaurus
Spinosaurus is a large, sail-backed theropod dinosaur, popularly depicted as a fearsome aquatic predator in the Jurassic Park franchise.
-
C.
Saurophaganax maximus
Saurophaganax maximus is a large Late Jurassic theropod dinosaur, closely related to Allosaurus, known from fossil remains found in what is now Oklahoma.
-
D.
Othnielosaurus
Othnielosaurus is a small, bipedal ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America, known for its lightly built body and herbivorous diet.
-
E.
Champsosaurus
Champsosaurus was a long-snouted, semi-aquatic reptile from the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene that resembled a modern gharial and belonged to the extinct group Choristodera.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
extinct animal
ⓘ
sail-backed tetrapod ⓘ synapsid ⓘ |
| belongsToClade |
non-mammalian synapsids
ⓘ
pelycosaurs ⓘ |
| bodyLength |
about 15 feet
ⓘ
up to about 4.6 meters ⓘ |
| class | Synapsida ⓘ |
| describedBy | Edward Drinker Cope ⓘ |
| diet | carnivorous ⓘ |
| extinctionStatus | extinct ⓘ |
| family |
Sphenacodontidae
ⓘ
linked to:
Sphenacodontia
|
| firstAppearance | Early Permian ⓘ |
| fossilsFoundIn |
Europe
ⓘ
Germany ⓘ North America ⓘ Oklahoma ⓘ Texas ⓘ |
| geologicalFormation | Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma ⓘ |
| hasAnatomicalFeature |
elongated neural spines
ⓘ
large skull ⓘ neural spine sail ⓘ sharp teeth ⓘ |
| hasNotableSpecies |
Dimetrodon grandis
ⓘ
linked to:
Dimetrodon
Dimetrodon milleri ⓘ
linked to:
Dimetrodon
Dimetrodon natalis ⓘ
linked to:
Dimetrodon
|
| isNot | dinosaur ⓘ |
| isOftenMistakenFor | dinosaur ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| livedApproximately |
272 million years ago
ⓘ
295 million years ago ⓘ |
| livedIn | terrestrial environments ⓘ |
| locomotion | quadrupedal ⓘ |
| moreCloselyRelatedTo | mammals ⓘ |
| order | Sphenacodontia ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| preysOn | smaller vertebrates ⓘ |
| reproduction | oviparous ⓘ |
| sailFunctionHypothesis |
display
ⓘ
species recognition ⓘ thermoregulation ⓘ |
| skullType | synapsid skull with single temporal fenestra ⓘ |
| subgroupOf |
Sphenacodontinae
ⓘ
linked to:
Sphenacodontia
|
| taxonRank | genus ⓘ |
| temporalRangeStart | Cisuralian ⓘ |
| timePeriod |
Permian
ⓘ
linked to:
Permian Period
|
| trophicLevel | apex predator ⓘ |
| typeSpecies |
Dimetrodon limbatus
ⓘ
linked to:
Dimetrodon
|
| yearDescribed | 1878 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Dimetrodon Description of subject: Dimetrodon is an extinct sail-backed synapsid from the Early Permian period, often mistaken for a dinosaur but more closely related to mammals.
Referenced by (8)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Dimetrodon
linked to: Dimetrodon
linked to: Dimetrodon
linked to: Dimetrodon