Temnospondyli or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods — often considered primitive amphibians — that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods, with fossils being found on every continent. A few species continued into the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods, but all had gone extinct by the Late Cretaceous. During about 210 million years of evolutionary history, they adapted to a wide range of habitats, including freshwater, terrestrial, and even coastal marine environments. Their life history is well understood, with fossils known from the larval stage, metamorphosis, and maturity. Most temnospondyls were semiaquatic, although some were almost fully terrestrial, returning to the water only to breed. These temnospondyls were some of the first vertebrates fully adapted to life on land. Although temnospondyls are amphibians, many had characteristics such as scales and armour-like bony plates that distinguish them from the modern soft-bodied lissamphibians.
Omosaurus is a dubious genus of extinct crurotarsan reptile, possibly a phytosaur, from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of North Carolina. Only scant remains are known, which makes Omosaurus hard to classify. The type, and only species, Omosaurus perplexus, was named and described in 1856 by Joseph Leidy.
Metoposaurus meaning "front lizard" is an extinct genus of stereospondyl temnospondyl amphibian, known from the Late Triassic of Germany, Italy, Poland, and Portugal. This mostly aquatic animal possessed small, weak limbs, sharp teeth, and a large, flat head. This highly flattened creature mainly fed on fish, which it captured with its wide jaws lined with needle-like teeth. Many Metoposaurus mass graves have been found, probably from creatures that grouped together in drying pools during drought.
Acheloma is an extinct genus of temnospondyl that lived during the Early Permian. The type species is A. cumminsi.
Apachesaurus is an extinct genus of metoposaurid temnospondyl amphibian from western North America.
Trematopidae is a family of dissorophoid temnospondyl spanning the late Carboniferous to the early Permian. Together with Dissorophidae, the family forms Olsoniformes, a clade comprising the medium-large terrestrial dissorophoids. Trematopids are known from numerous localities in North America, primarily in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and from the Bromacker quarry in Germany.
Eupelor is a dubious genus of prehistoric amphibian belonging to the temnospondyl family Metoposauridae. Fossils have been found in present-day Pennsylvania, within the Newark Supergroup, dating to the Late Triassic (Norian).
Arganasaurus is an extinct genus of prehistoric temnospondyl amphibian belonging to the family Metoposauridae that lived in Morocco during the Late Triassic (Carnian).
Cryobatrachus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Triassic of Antarctica. The type species is Cryobatrachus kitchingi. It is known from a partial skull and an imprint of the skull roof, both found in the Fremouw Formation of the Transantarctic Mountains at about 85° south latitude and described in 1974. Many small bone fragments have also been identified, although they cannot be attributed with certainty to C. kitchingi. Cryobatrachus has been classified in the family Lydekkerinidae, as it is similar in appearance to the genus Lydekkerina from South Africa. Because only a small number of features distinguish it from other lydekkerinids, Cryobatrachus kitchingi has more recently been considered a nomen dubium, meaning that its distinction from other better-known species may be unwarranted.
Calamops is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl amphibian known from the base of the Solebury Member of the Late Triassic Newark Supergroup of Pennsylvania, United States. Calamops was first named by Sinclair in 1917 and the type species is Calamops paludosus. It was usually thought to be a metoposaurid of questionable validity as its holotype and only known specimen, which comprises three pieces of a left mandibular ramus, had never been prepared. Following a preparation and casting of the specimen, Hans-Dieter Sues and Rainer R. Schoch found in 2013 Calamops to represent a valid taxon of trematosauroid temnospondyls that can be diagnosed by several autapomorphies. It represents one of the geologically youngest known long-snouted trematosaurs and the first record of these temnospondyls from the Late Triassic of North America. It is also the oldest known tetrapod fossil from the Triassic of the Newark basin.
Dutuitosaurus is a genus of metoposaurids, a group of amphibians that lived during the Late Triassic period. Dutuitosaurus was discovered in the early 1960s in Morocco and is known from the lower t5 units of the Timezgadiouine Formation exposures in the Argana Basin of the High Atlas Mountains and was first described in 1976 by French paleontologist Jean-Michel Dutuit. Material of Dutuitosaurus is currently held in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France. It was originally placed within Metoposaurus as M. ouazzoui but was subsequently placed in its own genus, Dutuitosaurus, by Hunt (1993), who identified a number of differences between Metoposaurus and the Moroccan metoposaurids. Features that differentiate Dutuitosaurus from other metoposaurids include relative elongate intercentra and a maxilla that enters the orbit.
Lapillopsis is an extinct genus of stereospondyl temnospondyl within the family Lapillopsidae. Fossils belonging to the genus have been found in the Arcadia Formation of Queensland, Australia.
Rileymillerus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Late Triassic Post Quarry in the Dockum Group of Texas that was described by John Bolt and Sankar Chatterjee in 2000. The holotype, a nearly complete skull with articulated jaws, is housed at the Museum of Texas Tech University. The genus is named for Riley Miller, who allowed Chatterjee to work on the Post Quarry, and the species is named for the paleontologist John Cosgriff.
Phonerpeton is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Trematopidae that is known from the early Permian of Texas.
Thoosuchus is an extinct genus of basal trematosauroid trematosaurian temnospondyl. Fossils have been found from Russia and date back to the Early Triassic. It is the type genus of the family Thoosuchidae, formerly called the subfamily Thoosuchinae and placed within Benthosuchidae. The benthosuchids were originally composed of the majority of basal trematosaurian forms regarded as the ancestors of the trematosaurids. Although the genus was first named in 1940, material from one species, E. yakovlevi, was originally tentatively referred to Trematosuchus in 1926.
Dyoplax is an extinct genus of pseudosuchian archosaur, possibly an erpetosuchid. Fossils have been found from the type locality within the upper Schilfsandstein Formation in Stuttgart, Germany. The holotype specimen was a natural cast of a nearly complete skeleton that lacked only parts of the tail and limb bones.
Anaschisma is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl amphibians. These animals were part of the family called Metoposauridae, which filled the crocodile-like predatory niches in the late Triassic. It had large skull about 62 centimetres (24 in) long, and possibly reached 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. It was an ambush hunter, snapping up anything small enough to fit in its huge jaws. It was very common during the Late Triassic in what is now the American Southwest.
Panthasaurus is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl amphibian belonging to the family Metoposauridae that lived in India during the Late Triassic (Norian) of central India. It contains one species, Panthasaurus maleriensis from the Lower Maleri Formation of India.
Latiscopus disjunctus is a small Late Triassic temnospondyl collected in 1940 by a Works Projects Administration crew working near Otis Chalk, Texas that was described by John Wilson in 1948.
This list of fossil amphibians described in 2018 is a list of new taxa of fossil amphibians that were described during the year 2018, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to amphibian paleontology that occurred in 2018.
