Baphetidae is an extinct family of early tetrapods. Baphetids were large labyrinthodont predators of the Late Carboniferous period of Europe. Fragmentary remains from the Early Carboniferous of Canada have been tentatively assigned to the group. The phylogenetic relationships of baphetids is uncertain; while many studies have placed the group as a close relative of Amniota, other analyses have found Baphetidae to be a more basal clade of early stem tetrapods. Baphetids were among the first of the Carboniferous fossil tetrapods to be found and were originally described in 1850 by John William Dawson. The baphetids have been referred to the family Loxommatidae, but this group was later shown to be a junior synonym of Baphetidae, which was named earlier in 1865. Baphetids are known mainly from skulls; very little postcranial material has been found.
Amniotes are a clade of tetrapod vertebrates comprising the reptiles, birds, and mammals. Amniotes lay their eggs on land or retain the fertilized egg within the mother, and are distinguished from the anamniotes, which typically lay their eggs in water. Older sources, particularly prior to the 20th century, may refer to amniotes as "higher vertebrates" and anamniotes as "lower vertebrates", based on the discredited idea of the evolutionary great chain of being.
Ichthyostega is an early genus of tetrapodomorphs that lived at the end of the Late Devonian Period. It was one of the first four-limbed vertebrates in the fossil record. Ichthyostega possessed lungs and limbs that helped it navigate through shallow water in swamps. Although Ichthyostega is often labelled a "tetrapod" due to the possession of limbs and fingers, it was more basal ("primitive") than true crown-tetrapods, and could more accurately be referred to as a stegocephalian or stem tetrapod. Likewise, while undoubtedly of amphibian build and habit, it is not considered a true member of the group in the narrow sense, as the first modern amphibians appeared in the Triassic Period. Until finds of other early stegocephalians and closely related fishes in the late 20th century, Ichthyostega stood alone as a transitional fossil between fish and tetrapods, combining fish- and tetrapod-like features. Newer research has shown that it had an unusual anatomy, functioning more akin to a seal than a salamander, as previously assumed.
Batrachomorpha is a name traditionally given to recent and extinct amphibians that are more closely related to modern amphibians than they are to reptiles. It most often includes the extinct groups Temnospondyli and Lepospondyli. The first tetrapods were all amphibians in the physiological sense that they laid their eggs in water, and are colloquially sometimes refereed to as labyrinthodonts or stegocephalians. In this scheme, batrachomorphs composed one branch of these early amphibians, while the reptiliomorphs composed the other. While the actual phylogeny of the modern amphibians is not well understood, their ancestors are descended from one line of batrachomorphs. All other living tetrapods are descended from one branch of reptiliomorphs, the amniotes. Amniotes achieved dominance, while all other reptiliomorphs and most batrachomorphs have gone extinct.
Reptiliomorpha is a clade containing the amniotes and those tetrapods that share a more recent common ancestor with amniotes than with living amphibians (lissamphibians). It was defined by Michel Laurin (2001) and Vallin and Laurin (2004) as the largest clade that includes Homo sapiens, but not Ascaphus truei.
Diadectes is an extinct genus of large, very reptile-like amphibians that lived during the early Permian period. Diadectes was one of the very first herbivorous tetrapods, and also one of the first fully terrestrial animals to attain large size.
Temnospondyli is a diverse subclass of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic periods. A few species continued into the Cretaceous. Fossils have been found on every continent. During about 210 million years of evolutionary history, they adapted to a wide range of habitats, including fresh water, 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 considered amphibians, many had characteristics, such as scales, claws, and armour-like bony plates, that distinguish them from modern amphibians.
Seymouria was a reptile-like tetrapod from the early Permian of North America and Europe. It was small, only 2 ft (60 cm) long. Seymouria was well adapted to life on land, with many reptilian features—so many, in fact, that it was first thought to be a primitive reptile.
Westlothiana is a genus of reptile-like tetrapod that lived about 338 million years ago during the latest part of the Visean age of the Carboniferous. Members of the genus bore a superficial resemblance to modern-day lizards. The genus is known from a single species, Westlothiana lizziae. The type specimen was discovered in the East Kirkton Limestone at the East Kirkton Quarry, West Lothian, Scotland in 1984. This specimen was nicknamed "Lizzie the lizard" by fossil hunter Stan Wood, and this name was quickly adopted by other paleontologists and the press. When the specimen was formally named in 1990, it was given the specific name "lizziae" in homage to this nickname. However, despite its similar body shape, Westlothiana is not considered a true lizard. Westlothiana's anatomy contained a mixture of both "labyrinthodont" and reptilian features, and was originally regarded as the oldest known reptile or amniote. However, updated studies have shown that this identification is not entirely accurate. Instead of being one of the first amniotes, Westlothiana was rather a close relative of Amniota. As a result, most paleontologists since the original description place the genus within the group Reptiliomorpha, among other amniote relatives such as diadectomorphs and seymouriamorphs. Later analyses usually place the genus as the earliest diverging member of Lepospondyli, a collection of unusual tetrapods which may be close to amniotes or lissamphibians, or potentially both at the same time.
Proterogyrinus was an extinct genus of early tetrapods from the order Embolomeri. Fossils have been found in Scotland, UK, and West Virginia, United States and date back to the Serpukhovian from about 331-323 million years ago. The genus was originally named by renowned vertebrate paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer in 1970. A comprehensive redescription was later published by Canadian paleontologist Robert Holmes in 1984. The generic name "Proterogyrinus" is Greek for "earlier wanderer" or "earlier tadpole". This name was chosen by Romer in keeping with a trend of naming long-bodied early tetrapods with the suffix "-gyrinus".
Dendrerpeton is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Carboniferous of Nova Scotia and Ireland. They are generally found associated with hollows of the Lepidodendron and Sigillaria tree genera, for which their fossils are contained within. These fossils are disarticulated and flattened providing poor specimens. In this species the stapes was used as a support structure for the ear, rather than for hearing as in later tetrapods.
Solenodonsaurus is an extinct genus of reptiliomorphs that lived in what is now Czech Republic, during the Westphalian stage.
The Colosteidae are a family of stegocephalians that lived in the Carboniferous period. They possessed a variety of characteristics from different tetrapod or stem-tetrapod groups, which made them historically difficult to classify. They are now considered to be part of a lineage intermediate between the earliest Devonian terrestrial vertebrates, and the different groups ancestral to all modern tetrapods, such as temnospondyls and reptiliomorphs.
Acherontiscus is an extinct genus of stegocephalians that lived in the Early Carboniferous of Scotland. The type and only species is Acherontiscus caledoniae, named by paleontologist Robert Carroll in 1969. Members of this genus have an unusual combination of features which makes their placement within amphibian-grade tetrapods uncertain. They possess multi-bone vertebrae similar to those of embolomeres, but also a skull similar to lepospondyls. The only known specimen of Acherontiscus possessed an elongated body similar to that of a snake or eel. No limbs were preserved, and evidence for their presence in close relatives of Acherontiscus is dubious at best. Phylogenetic analyses created by Marcello Ruta and other paleontologists in the 2000s indicate that Acherontiscus is part of Adelospondyli, closely related to other snake-like animals such as Adelogyrinus and Dolichopareias. Adelospondyls are traditionally placed within the group Lepospondyli due to their fused vertebrae. Updated analyses since 2007 have shown that adelospondyls such as Acherontiscus may not actually be lepospondyls, instead being close relatives or members of the family Colosteidae. This would indicate that they evolved prior to the split between the tetrapod lineage that leads to reptiles (Reptiliomorpha) and the one that leads to modern amphibians (Batrachomorpha). Members of this genus were probably aquatic animals that were able to swim using snake-like movements.
Dictyocephalus is an extinct genus of prehistoric temnospondyls; the only species is Dictyocephalus elegans. This taxon was one of the first metoposaurids to be discovered in North America, being discovered by Ebeneezer Emmons and briefly described by Joseph Leidy in 1856 in the Newark supergroup exposures of Chatham County, North Carolina. At the time, Leidy was uncertain of much of the anatomy of D. elegans, which is represented only by a small partial skull and made only brief descriptions and measurements of a few elements, with an estimated size based on the long-snouted trematosaur Trematosaurus. Emmons provided the first figures of the specimen the following year. Romer (1947) briefly mentioned that the specimen was indistinguishable from "Buettneria" (Koskinonodon). The taxon was not revisited in much detail until the revision of the Metoposauridae by Ned Colbert and John Imbrie in 1956. These authors pointed out that many of the features listed by Leidy to be diagnostic for D. elegans were too generic to either make comparisons or to prove its specific affinities. Chowdhury (1965) did not formally place D. elegans within the Metoposauridae. Subsequent authors proposed that D. elegans might represent a juvenile of a specific taxon, but uncertainty resulted from interpretations of the absence an otic notch and a tabular horn, features seen in larger metoposaurids. Joseph Gregory suggested that it specifically represented a juvenile of Metoposaurus but indicated a preference to maintain the name in a form restricted to the holotype and to designate it as a nomen vanum. Beth Davidow-Henry re-appraised the holotype in light of new material of small metoposaurids. She pointed out that if the absence of otic notches was considered to be a defining feature, then D. elegans would probably be synonymous with Anaschisma from Wyoming, but refrained from formalizing this in the absence of information regarding changes to the otic notch during development. Dictyocephalus was thus maintained as a valid genus of metoposaurids with shallow otic notches. The most recent revision of the metoposaurids by Adrian Hunt stated that the holotype was too fragmentary to be diagnostic and designated D. elegans as a nomen dubium within Temnospondyli
Dissorophus (DI-soh-ROH-fus) is an extinct genus of the early temnospondyl amphibian families that flourished in the Late Carboniferous to the Late Permian, 273 million years ago. Most recent discovery of the Dissorophus species is D. multicinctus. Their remains have been found in the Northern and Central Texas, and distinguished from other members of its clade by its small body size, disproportionately large head and short trunk. Dermal ossification in the sacral region and skull suggests that D. multicinctus are among the non-amniotes that were successful on land.
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.
Procyclotosaurus is an extinct genus of stenotosaurid capitosaurian temnospondyl. The type species is P. stantonensis. In 1904, English paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward described it as a species of Capitosaurus, C. stantonensis, based on a partial skull known as R 3174. In 1958, the species was assigned to the new genus. It is known from the Lower Keuper, a European stratigraphic unit that was deposited during the Late Triassic. Fossils have been found from Staffordshire, England.
Innovations conventionally associated with terrestrially first appeared in aquatic elpistostegalians such as Panderichthys rhombolepis, Elpistostege watsoni, and Tiktaalik roseae. Phylogenetic analyses distribute the features that developed along the tetrapod stem and display a stepwise process of character acquisition, rather than abrupt. The complete transition occurred over a period of 25 million years beginning with the tetrapodomorph diversification in the Middle Devonian.
