Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles exchanges and international cooperative efforts for study and publications. The society was founded as a regional organization, The Ohio Herpetological Society (OHS), by two young but serious-minded amateurs, Kraig Adler and David M. Dennis, then 16 and 17 years of age respectively. They decided in the fall of 1957 to formalize interactions amongst a small group of amateur herpetologists throughout Ohio and began publishing a combined journal and newsletter (called the "Trimonthly Report") in January 1958. The name of the society was changed to The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles on January 1, 1967. The SSAR publishes
Evolution of reptiles Evolution of reptiles Reptiles arose about 310–320 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. Reptiles, in the traditional sense of the term, are defined as animals that have scales or scutes, lay land-based hard-shelled eggs, and possess ectothermic metabolisms. So defined, the group is paraphyletic, excluding endothermic animals like birds and mammals that are descended from early reptiles. A definition in accordance with phylogenetic nomenclature, which rejects paraphyletic groups, includes birds while excluding mammals and their synapsid ancestors. So defined, Reptilia is identical to Sauropsida. Though lots of reptiles today are apex predators, many examples of apex reptiles have existed