section_path: Evolutionary history/Mesozoic vertebrates
section_name: Mesozoic vertebrates
paragraph_text: Mesozoic vertebrates
  
  Amniotes branched from amphibious tetrapods early in the Carboniferous period. The synapsid amniotes were dominant during the late Paleozoic, the Permian, while diapsid amniotes became dominant during the Mesozoic. In the sea, the teleosts and sharks became dominant. Mesothermic synapsids called cynodonts gave rise to endothermic mammals and diapsids called dinosaurs eventually gave rise to endothermic birds, both in the Jurassic. After all dinosaurs except birds went extinct by the end of the Cretaceous, birds and mammals diversified and filled their niches.