Brachyopoidea is a superfamily of temnospondyls that lived during the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

. It contains the

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

Brachyopidae Brachyopidae is an extinct family of temnospondyl labyrintodonts. They evolved in the early Mesozoic and were mostly aquatic. A fragmentary find from Lesotho, Africa is estimated to have been long, the largest amphibian ever known to have lived ...

and Chigutisauridae. The earliest records of brachyopids are from the Lower Triassic in Australia. The latest-surviving member of the superfamily is the chigutisaurid '' Koolasuchus'' from the Early Cretaceous of Australia.

Description

Some large brachiopoids, such as '' Siderops'' and ''Koolasuchus'', grew to lengths of around . However, an unnamed

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. ...

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...

brachiopoid from Lesotho in southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

is estimated to have been far larger. At an estimated , the brachiopoid from Lesotho is one of the largest amphibians ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'' ever known. This estimate is based on a single jaw fragment found in 1970 by a French expedition near Alwynskop in Quthing. Because of its size, the fragment was initially considered to be from a mastodonsaur. However, Several features of the specimen indicate that it is from a brachyopoid. There is a large tusk protruding from the ectopterygoid, a bone of the

palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...

, and the dental morphology is similar to that of other brachyopoids. When viewed from the side, the upper margin of the jaw appears concave. The specimen was redescribed as a brachyopoid in 2005.

Classification

Shown below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

of Brachyopoidea adapted from Ruta ''et al.'' (2007).

Notes

Amphibians in the most general sense- i.e. terrestrial or semi-terrestrial vertebrates which do not belong to amniota.

References

General references

* * Marsicano, Claudia A. (2005
A new temnospondyl record from the Upper Triassic of Argentina
Ameghiniana, vol.42, no.2, p. 501-504. ISSN 0002-7014. * * * Triassic temnospondyls Jurassic temnospondyls Cretaceous temnospondyls Trematosaurs Amphibian families Early Triassic first appearances Early Cretaceous extinctions {{temnospondyli-stub