''Pasawioops'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of early

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Pale ...

dissorophoid

temnospondyl Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') is a diverse order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished worldwide during the Carb ...

within the clade Amphibamiformes.

History of study

''Pasawioops'' was first described from the early Permian fissure fills near

Richards Spur Richards Spur is a Permian fossil locality located at the Dolese Brothers Limestone Quarry north of Lawton, Oklahoma. The locality preserves clay and mudstone fissure fills of a karst system eroded out of Ordovician limestone and dolomite, with t ...

in Comanche County, Oklahoma. It is known from three skulls from this locality. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

is a complete skull (reposited at the

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

MNH MNH or mnh may refer to: * Museo Nacional de Historia, a national museum of Mexico * MNH, the IATA code for Rustaq Airport, Oman * MNH, the Indian Railways station code for Munsirhat railway station, West Bengal, India * mnh, the ISO 639-3 code fo ...

, while the referred specimens are larger but more incomplete partial skulls (one at the OMNH and the other at the

Field Museum The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

). The taxon is also known from one specimen from the early Permian of Texas (reposited at the

Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

), being previously misidentified as a specimen of ''Tersomius texensis''.

Anatomy

''Pasawioops'' has a relatively long and slender skull for an amphibamiform, with the posterior skull table not abbreviated as in more derived taxa. A tooth-bearing crest is found along the cultriform process, and the pterygoid bears two ridges of teeth. The teeth of ''Pasawioops'' are monocuspid and recurved. Unlike some derived amphibamiforms such as '' Gerobatrachus'', the teeth are not

pedicellate In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

, or narrow at the base.

Relationships

''Pasawioops'' has long been recognized to be closely related to ''Micropholis'' from South Africa and ''Tersomius'' from North America. This clade was formalized by Schoch (2018) as the family Micropholidae.

References

External links

''Pasawioops''
in the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Paleo ...

Amphibamids Dissorophids Cisuralian temnospondyls of North America Permian geology of Oklahoma Fossil taxa described in 2008 Prehistoric amphibian genera {{permian-animal-stub