Actinodontidae is an extinct family of

temnospondyls Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished wo ...

that lived during the Permian period. The family is a sister taxon to

Archegosauridae Archegosauridae is a family of relatively large and long snouted temnospondyls that lived in the Permian period. They were fully aquatic animals, and were metabolically and physiologically more similar to fish than modern amphibians.Florian Witzm ...

, under the superfamily

Archegosauroidea Archegosauroidea is an extinct superfamily of Permian temnospondyls. The superfamily is assigned to the clade Stereospondylomorpha and is the sister taxon to the suborder Stereospondyli. It includes the families Actinodontidae and Archegosauri ...

.Though air-breathing via lungs, they would have been more physiologically similar to fishes than present amphibians or tetrapods; living primarily in brackish or freshwater environments.

References

Sources

* Permian temnospondyls Permian extinctions Temnospondyl families Stereospondylomorpha {{temnospondyli-stub