''Branchiosaurus'' (from el, βράγχιον , 'gill' and el, σαῦρος , 'lizard') is a genus of small, lightly built early prehistoric amphibians. Fossils have been discovered in strata dating from the late

Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to: * A person or thing from Pennsylvania * Pennsylvanian (geology) The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...

Epoch to the Permian Period. The taxa may be invalid; the material referred to the genus may be juvenile specimens of larger amphibians. Branchiosaurus BW

This tiny amphibian was very similar to the

Rachitomi The Rachitomi were a group of extinct Palaeozoic labyrinthodont amphibians, according to an earlier classification system.Kent, G.C. & Miller, L. (1997): Comparative anatomy of the vertebrates. 8th edition. Wm. C. Brown Publishers. Dubuque. 487 p ...

, differing primarily in size. Other distinguishing characteristics include a cartilaginous, less ossified skeleton and a shorter skull. Clear traces of gills are present in many fossilized samples, hence the name. Originally thought to have vertebrae distinct from rachitomous vertebrae, it was placed in a separate

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

named

Phyllospondyli The Phyllospondyli is a now abandoned term for a series of small, poorly ossified fossils of labyrinthodont amphibians from the Paleozoic. The groups was proposed as an order on the basis if their vertebrae, which was either consisting of neural ar ...

("leaf vertebrae"). Later analysis of growth stages showed increasing ossification in larger specimens, which showed that at least some of the species was the larval stage of much larger rachitomes like '' Eryops'', while others represent paedomorphic species which retained the larval gills in adulthood.Boy, J.A. (1972): Die Branchiosaurier (Amphibia) des saarpfalzichen Rotliegenden (Perm, SW-Deutschland). ''Abhandlungen des Hessische Landesamt, Bodenforschung'' No 65, pp 1-137 Distribution is uncertain, though available fossils come from central Europe, most famous of which are the Permian

Niederkirchen Beds Niederkirchen is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...

around Pfalz, Germany.

References

External links

Fossil picture.''Branchiosaurus at BioLib.cz''
Branchiosaurids Permian temnospondyls of Europe Prehistoric amphibian genera {{Permian-animal-stub