Cacops, is a genus of dissorophid temnospondyls from the Kungurian stage of the early Permian of the United States. Cacops is one of the few olsoniforms whose ontogeny is known. Cacops fossils were almost exclusively known from the Cacops Bone Bed of the Lower Permian Arroyo Formation of Texas for much of the 20th century. New material collected from the Dolese Brothers Quarry, near Richards Spur, Oklahoma in the past few decades has been recovered, painting a clearer picture of what the animal looked and acted like.
Dissorophidae is an extinct family of medium-sized, temnospondyl amphibians that flourished during the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods. The clade is known almost exclusively from North America.
Cotylorhynchus is an extinct genus of herbivorous caseid synapsids that lived during the late Lower Permian (Kungurian) and possibly the early Middle Permian (Roadian) in what is now Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The large number of specimens found make it the best-known caseid. Like all large herbivorous caseids, Cotylorhynchus had a short snout sloping forward and very large external nares. The head was very small compared to the size of the body. The latter was massive, barrel-shaped, and ended with a long tail. The limbs were short and robust. The hands and feet had short, broad fingers with powerful claws. The barrel-shaped body must have housed large intestines, suggesting that the animal had to feed on a large quantity of plants of low nutritional value. A semiaquatic lifestyle in Cotylorhynchus and other large caseids has been proposed by various authors based on the spongy (osteoporotic) structure of its postcranial skeleton. A theory contested by other researchers based on paleontological and taphonomic data combined with the absence in this animal of morphological adaptations to an aquatic lifestyle. The genus Cotylorhynchus is represented by three species, the largest of which could reach more than 6 m in length. However, a study published in 2022 suggests that the genus may be paraphyletic, with two of the three species possibly belonging to separate genera.
Colobomycter is an extinct genus of lanthanosuchoid parareptile known from the Early Permian of Oklahoma.
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.
Aspidosaurus is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Dissorophidae.
Anconastes is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Trematopidae. It is known from two specimens from the Late Carboniferous Cutler Formation of north-central New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The genus name derives from two Greek roots, ankos and nastes ("inhabitant"), which refers to the type locality of El Cobre Canyon where the specimens were found. The specific name is derived from the Latin word vesperus ("western"). The more complete specimen, the holotype, is a partial skull with articulated mandibles and a substantial amount of the postcranial skeleton. The less complete specimen, the paratype, consists only of the right margin of the skull with an articulated mandible.
Actiobates is an extinct genus of trematopid temnospondyl that lived during the Late Carboniferous. It is known from the Garnett Quarry in Kansas.
Fayella is an extinct genus of dubious temnospondyl from the Early Permian (Guadalupian) of Oklahoma.
Ecolsonia is an extinct genus of trematopid temnospondyl. Its phylogenetic position within Olsoniformes has been historically debated, but it is presently considered to be a trematopid.
Phonerpeton is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Trematopidae that is known from the early Permian of Texas.
Trimerorhachis is an extinct genus of dvinosaurian temnospondyl within the family Trimerorhachidae. It is known from the Early Permian of the southwestern United States, with most fossil specimens having been found in the Texas Red Beds. The type species of Trimerorhachis, T. insignis, was named by American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1878. Cope named a second species from Texas, T. mesops, in 1896. The species T. rogersi and T. greggi are also from Texas, and the species T. sandovalensis is from New Mexico.
Tersomius is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Micropholidae. It is known from the early Permian of North America.
Pasawioops is an extinct genus of early Permian dissorophoid temnospondyl within the clade Amphibamiformes.
Paleontology in Oklahoma refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a rich fossil record spanning all three eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Oklahoma is the best source of Pennsylvanian fossils in the United States due to having an exceptionally complete geologic record of the epoch. From the Cambrian to the Devonian, all of Oklahoma was covered by a sea that would come to be home to creatures like brachiopods, bryozoans, graptolites and trilobites. During the Carboniferous, an expanse of coastal deltaic swamps formed in areas of the state where early tetrapods would leave behind footprints that would later fossilize. The sea withdrew altogether during the Permian period. Oklahoma was home a variety of insects as well as early amphibians and reptiles. Oklahoma stayed dry for most of the Mesozoic. During the Late Triassic, carnivorous dinosaurs left behind footprints that would later fossilize. During the Cretaceous, however, the state was mostly covered by the Western Interior Seaway, which was home to huge ammonites and other marine invertebrates. During the Cenozoic, Oklahoma became home to creatures like bison, camels, creodonts, and horses. During the Ice Age, the state was home to mammoths and mastodons. Local Native Americans are known to have used fossils for medicinal purposes. The Jurassic dinosaur Saurophaganax maximus is the Oklahoma state fossil.
Reiszerpeton is an extinct genus of dissorophid temnospondyl known from the Early Permian Archer City Formation of Texas. It is known solely from the holotype, MCZ 1911, a complete skull. This specimen was originally referred to the amphibamiform Tersomius texensis. A reappraisal of the holotype of T. texensis and a number of other referred specimens by Maddin et al. (2013) noted a number of differences from both T. texensis and amphibamiforms more broadly that suggested affinities with the Dissorophidae. This was confirmed by a phylogenetic analysis, which placed it as the sister taxon to the Eucacopinae. Reiszerpeton is known only from the type species, R. renascentis, which was named for Canadian paleontologist Robert Reisz. The species name refers to the recognition of Reisz as a "renaissance paleontologist." It is differentiated from other dissorophids by its small size, small and more numerous maxillary teeth, smooth cranial ornamentation, and greater distance between the orbit and the otic notch.
This timeline of Permian research is a chronological listing of events in the history of geology and paleontology focused on the study of earth during the span of time lasting from 298.9–252.17 million years ago and the legacies of this period in the rock and fossil records.
Amphibamiformes is an unranked clade with Dissorophoidea created by Schoch (2018). It encompasses all of the taxa traditionally considered to be "amphibamids", branchiosaurids, and hypothetically lissamphibians under the traditional temnospondyl hypothesis of lissamphibian origins. These taxa are typically small-bodied dissorophoids and form the sister group to Olsoniformes, which comprises dissorophids and trematopids.
Richards Spur is a Permian fossil locality located at the Dolese Brothers Limestone Quarry north of Lawton, Oklahoma. The locality preserves clay and mudstone fissure fills of a karst system eroded out of Ordovician limestone and dolomite, with the infilling dating to the Artinskian stage of the early Permian (Cisuralian), around 289 to 286 million years ago. Fossils of terrestrial animals are abundant and well-preserved, representing one of the most diverse Paleozoic tetrapod communities known. A common historical name for the site is Fort Sill, in reference to the nearby military base. Fossils were first reported at the quarry by workers in 1932, spurring a wave of collecting by local and international geologists. Early taxa of interest included the abundant reptile Captorhinus and microsaurs such as Cardiocephalus and Euryodus. Later notable discoveries include Doleserpeton, the most diverse assortment of parareptiles in the Early Permian, and the rare early diapsid Orovenator.
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.
