Brachyopoidea is a superfamily of

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 that lived during the

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 ...

. It contains the

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

Brachyopidae Brachyopidae is an extinct family of temnospondyls. 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 besides ''Prio ...

and

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 ...

. The earliest records of brachyopids are from the

Lower Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epoch (geology), epochs of the Triassic Period (geology), Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251.9 annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively kno ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The latest-surviving member of the superfamily is the chigutisaurid '' Koolasuchus'' from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

of Australia.

Description

Some large brachiopoids, such as ''

Siderops ''Siderops'' (from the Greek sideros meaning “iron” and -ops meaning “face” ) is an extinct genus of chigutisaurid temnospondyl from Early Jurassic of Australia, containing the species ''S. kehli'' (named after the Kehl family of ‘Kolan ...

'' and ''Koolasuchus'', grew to lengths of around . However, an unnamed

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

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� ...

brachiopoid 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 ...

in southern

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 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 co ...

'' ever known. This estimate is based on a single jaw fragment found in 1970 by a French expedition near Alwynskop in

Quthing Quthing, also known as Moyeni (Sesotho for "place of wind"), is a constituency and the capital city or camptown of Quthing District in Lesotho. Quthing was established in 1877, abandoned in the Gun War of 1880, and then rebuilt at its present s ...

. 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 sep ...

, 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 language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

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

* * * * * * * * * * * Trematosauria Prehistoric animal superfamilies Triassic temnospondyls Jurassic temnospondyls Cretaceous temnospondyls Early Triassic first appearances Early Cretaceous extinctions {{temnospondyli-stub