Brachyopidae is an extinct

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

temnospondyl Temnospondyli (from Greek language, Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order (biology), order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered Labyrinth ...

s. They evolved in the early

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

and were mostly aquatic. A fragmentary find from

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

is estimated to have been long, the largest

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

ever known to have lived besides ''

Prionosuchus ''Prionosuchus'' is an extinct genus of large temnospondyl. A single species ''P. plummeri'', is recognized from the Early Permian (some time between 299 and 272 million years ago). Its fossils have been found in what is now northeastern Brazil. ...

'' and ''

Mastodonsaurus ''Mastodonsaurus'' (meaning "teat tooth lizard") is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Middle Triassic of Europe. It belongs to a Triassic group of temnospondyls called Capitosauria, characterized by their large body size, large ...

''.Steyer, J.S. & Damiani, R. (2005): A giant brachyopoid temnospondyl from the Upper Triassic or Lower Jurassic of Lesotho. ''Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France'', no. 3: pp 243-248.
abstract
/ref> Brachyopids were the only group of temnospondyls to survive into the Jurassic aside from their sister family

Chigutisauridae Chigutisauridae is an extinct family of large temnospondyls. The only genera recognized as belonging to Chigutisauridae at the current time are all from Gondwana. Chigutisaurids first appeared during the Early Triassic in Australia. During the ...

; there are records of brachyopids from the Jurassic of Asia.

List of genera

*'' Banksiops'' *'' Bathignathus'' *'' Batrachosaurus'' *'' Batrachosuchoides'' *''

Batrachosuchus ''Batrachosuchus'' is a genus of temnospondyl that existed from the Early to Middle Triassic of southern Africa ( Ntawere Formation of Zambia and Burgersdorp Formation of South Africa) and the Blina Shale of Australia Australia, off ...

'' *'' Brachyops'' *'' Gobiops'' *'' Notobrachyops'' *?'' Pachygonia'' *'' Platycepsion'' *'' Sinobrachyops'' *'' Vanastega'' *'' Vigilius'' *'' Xenobrachyops''

References

External links

Brachyopidae at Palaeos.
Brachyopidae Temnospondyl families {{Temnospondyli-stub