''Broiliellus'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of dissorophoid

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 ...

within the

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 ...

Dissorophidae. ''Broiliellus'' is most closely related to the genus '' Dissorophus'', and both have been placed in the subfamily Dissorophinae. ''Broiliellus'' is known from five species from the

Early Permian 01 or 01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * '01 (Richard Müller album), ''01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * 01 (Urban Zakapa album), ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011 ...

: the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Broiliellus texensis,'' and the other species are ''Broiliellus brevis,'' ''Broiliellus olsoni, Broiliellus arroyoensis,'' and ''Broiliellus reiszi''. An additional species, ''Broiliellus novomexicanus'', which was originally named '' Aspidosaurus novomexicanus'', is now thought to fall outside the genus as a member of the subfamily Eucacopinae.

History of study

''Broiliellus'' was first named by American paleontologist S.W. Williston in 1914 based on two nearly complete skulls in articulation with postcranial material from the early Permian of Texas; this species was given the name ''Broiliellus texensis'', the genus name being for the German paleontologist Ferdinand Broili, and the species name being for the geographic provenance. The holotype is currently reposited in the Field Museum. A second species, ''Broiliellus brevis'', from the Archer City bonebed in Texas was named in 1964 by Canadian paleontologist Robert Carroll; the holotype of this species is currently reposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Two more species were named in 1967 by American paleontologist Robert DeMar, ''Broiliellus olsoni'' and ''Broiliellus arroyoensis'', both from Texas. The most recent species to be described was ''Broiliellus reiszi'' in 2013 by Canadian paleontologist Robert Holmes and colleagues.

Phylogeny

The

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analysis of Schoch (2012) found that ''Broiliellus'' was most closely related to ''Dissorophus''. However, the three species of ''Broiliellus'' did not form their own

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

, but rather a polytomy (unresolved evolutionary relationship) with ''Dissorophus''. Holmes et al. (2013) named a new species of ''Broiliellus'', ''Broiliellus reiszi''. They performed two phylogenetic analyses using the data matrix of Schoch (2012). This analysis yielded more resolved topology and a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

''Broiliellus.'' Below is the

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 ...

from that analysis:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1965407 Dissorophidae Cisuralian amphibians of North America Prehistoric tetrapod genera Fossil taxa described in 1914 Taxa named by Samuel Wendell Williston Prehistoric amphibian genera