Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:09:11.924Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The appendicular skeleton of Eryops megacephalus Cope, 1877 (Temnospondyli: Eryopoidea) from the Lower Permian of North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Kat Pawley  and
Anne Warren
Kat Pawley
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia,
Anne Warren
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The appendicular skeleton of the Lower Permian temnospondyl Eryops megacephalus Cope, 1877, described and figured in detail, is similar to that of most temnospondyls, except that it is highly ossified. It displays terrestrial adaptations, including a reduced dermal pectoral girdle and comparatively large limbs, characterized by well-developed processes for muscle attachment. While many features that were previously unknown or uncommon among temnospondyls were identified, no apomorphies of the appendicular skeleton particular to Eryops were found. Some characteristics of the endochondral postcranial skeleton found in well-ossified temnospondyls, such as Eryops, are absent in less well ossified temnospondyls due to immaturity or paedomorphism. The effects of heterochronic processes on the morphology of the postcranial skeleton of temnospondyls and the implications for cladistics are discussed; the appendicular skeleton of Eryops is considered hypermorphic. Within the Temnospondyli, the Eryops appendicular skeleton is most similar to that of the Dissorophoidea, and most dissimilar to both the most plesiomorphic temnospondyls and the secondarily aquatic Mesozoic stereospondyls. The appendicular skeletons of well-ossified Late Permian and Mesozoic temnospondyls are not as robust as that of Eryops.

Surprisingly, Eryops, in common with other well-ossified temnospondyls, shares many derived features of the appendicular skeleton with seymouriamorphs and diadectomorphs. The presence of these previously unrecognized synapomorphies (relative to stem tetrapods and embolomeres) provides evidence for an alternative hypothesis of relationships of early tetrapods, suggesting that the Temnospondyli and seymouriamorphs plus diadectomorphs are sister taxa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , May 2006 , pp. 561 - 580
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, S. M., and Westoll, T. S. 1970. The postcranial skeleton of Eusthenopteron foordi Whiteaves. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 68:207–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakker, R. T. 1982. Juvenile-adult habitat shift in Permian fossil reptiles and amphibians. Science, 217:53–55.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S. 1993. Lower Permian vertebrate localities of New Mexico and their assemblages. Vertebrate Paleontology in New Mexico, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 2:11–22.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., and Henrici, A. C. 2003. Homology of the astragalus and structure and function of the tarsus of Diadectidae. Journal of Paleontology, 77:172–188.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, D. S., and Sumida, S. S. 1990. A new species of Limnoscelis (Amphibia, Diadectomorpha) from the Late Pennsylvanian Sangre De Cristo Formation of central Colorado. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 59:303–341.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Reisz, R. R., and Eberth, D. A. 1985. Ecolsonia cutlerensis, an Early Permian dissorophid amphibian from the Cutler Formation of north-central New Mexico. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Circular, 191:1–31.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Reisz, R. R., and Eberth, D. A. 1987a. A new genus and species of trematopid amphibian from the late Pennsylvanian of north-central New Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 7:252–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, D. S., Reisz, R. R., and Eberth, D. A. 1987b. Seymouria sanjuanensis (Amphibia, Batrachosauria) from the Lower Permian Cutler Formation of north-central New Mexico and the occurrence of sexual dimorphism in that genus questioned. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 24:1769–1784.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 1998. Diadectes (Diadectomorpha: Diadectidae) from the Early Permian of Central Germany, with description of a new species. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 67:53–93.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Henrici, A. C., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 2000. Redescription of Seymouria sanjuanensis (Seymouriamorpha) from the Lower Permian of Germany based on complete, mature specimens with a discussion of paleoecology of the Bromacker Locality assemblage. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:253–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, D. S., Henrici, A. C., Kissel, R. A., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 2004. A new diadectid (Diadectomorpha), Orobates pabsti, from the Early Permian of Central Germany. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 35:1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boy, J. A. 1988. Über einige Vertreter der Eryopoidea (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) aus dem Europäischen Rotliegend (höchstes Karbon–Perm). 1. Sclerocephalus . Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 62:107–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boy, J. A. 1989. Über einige Vertreter der Eryopoidea (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) aus dem Europäischen Rotliegend (höchstes Karbon–Perm). 2. Acanthostomatops . Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 63:133–151.Google Scholar
Brinkman, D. 1988. Size-independent criteria for estimating relative age in Ophiacodon and Dimetrodon (Reptilia, Pelycosauria) from the Admiral and Lower Belle Plains formations of west-central Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 8:172–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broili, F. 1904. Permische Stegocephalen und reptilien aus Texas. Palaeontographica Abteilung A-Palaozoologie-Stratigraphie, 51:1–120.Google Scholar
Broili, F. 1908. Üeber Sclerocephalus aus der Gaskohle von Nurschan und das Alter dieser Ablagerungen. Jahrbuch der Kaiserlisch Koniglischen Geologishchen Reichsanstalt Wien, 58:49–70.Google Scholar
Broili, F., and Schröder, H. C. 1937. Beobachtungen an wirbeltieren der Karrooformation. XXV. Über Micropholis Huxleyi. XXVI. Über Lydekkerina Broom. Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung, 1937:19–57.Google Scholar
Broom, R. 1915. On the Triassic Stegocephalians, Brachyops, Bothriceps and Lydekkerina gen. nov. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 26:363–368.Google Scholar
Bystrow, A. P., and Efremov, J. A. 1940. Benthosuchus sushkini Efremov: a labyrinthodont from the Eotriassic of the Sharzhenga River. Trudy Paleontologicheskogo Instituta, 10:1–152. (In Russian) Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1964a. Early evolution of the dissorophid amphibians. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 131:161–250.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1964b. The relationships of the rhachitomous amphibian Parioxys . American Museum Novitates, 2167:1–11.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1967. Labyrinthodonts from the Joggins Formation. Journal of Paleontology, 41:111–142.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1970. The ancestry of reptiles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 257:267–308.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 2002. Early land vertebrates. Nature, 418:35–36.Google Scholar
Case, E. C. 1905. The osteology of the Diadectidae and their relations to the Chelydosauria. Journal of Geology, 13:126–159.Google Scholar
Case, E. C. 1910. New or little known reptiles and amphibians from the Permian (?) of Texas. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 28:163–181.Google Scholar
Case, E. C. 1911a. Revision of the Amphibia and Pisces of the Permian of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication, 146:1–179.Google Scholar
Case, E. C. 1911b. Revision of the Cotylosauria of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication, 144:1–122.Google Scholar
Case, E. C. 1915. The Permo–Carboniferous Red Beds of North America and their vertebrate fauna. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication, 207:1–148.Google Scholar
Case, E. C., and Williston, S. W. 1913. Description of a nearly complete skeleton of Diasparactus zenos Case, p. 17–35. In Case, E. C., Williston, S. W., and Mehl, M. G. (eds.), Permo–Carboniferous Vertebrates of New Mexico, 181. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Clack, J. A. 2002. Gaining Ground: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 369 p.Google Scholar
Coates, M. I. 1996. The Devonian tetrapod Acanthostega gunnari Jarvik: postcranial anatomy, basal tetrapod interrelationships and patterns of skeletal evolution. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 87:363–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1877. Descriptions of extinct vertebrata from the Permian and Triassic formations of the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 17:182–195.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1878. Descriptions of extinct Batrachia and Reptilia from the Permian formation of Texas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 17:505–530.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1880. Second contribution to the history of the Vertebrata of the Permian Formation of Texas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 19:38–58.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1882a. The rachitomous Stegocephala. American Naturalist, 16:334–335.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1882b. Third contribution to the history of the Vertebrata of the Permian Formation of Texas. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 20:405–461.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1884. The Batrachia of the Permian period of North America. American Naturalist, 18:26–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1888. On the shoulder girdle and extremities of Eryops . Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 16:362–367.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1895. A batrachian armadillo. American Naturalist, 29:998.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D., and Matthew, W. D. 1915. Hitherto Unpublished Plates of Tertiary Mammalia and Permian Vertebrata. Monograph series number 2. American Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, 300 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Credner, H. 1883. Die Stegocephalen aus dem Rotliegenden des Plauen'schen Grundes bei Dresden. IV. Theil. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft, 1883:275–300.Google Scholar
Daly, E. 1994. The Amphibamidae (Amphibia: Temnospondyli), with a description of a new genus from the Upper Pennsylvanian of Kansas. The University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publication, 85:1–59.Google Scholar
De Mar, R. E. 1968. The Permian labyrinthodont amphibian Dissorophus multicinctus, and adaptations and phylogeny of the family Dissorophidae. Journal of Paleontology, 42:1210–1242.Google Scholar
Dilkes, D. W. 1990. A new trematopsid amphibian (Temnospondyli: Dissorophoidea) from the Lower Permian of Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 10:222–243.Google Scholar
Efremov, J. A. 1937. On stratigraphic subdivision of the continental Permian and Triassic of the U.S.S.R. on the basis of the fauna of early Tetrapods. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de l'urss, 16:121–126.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J. 1989. The postcranial skeletal anatomy of the Carboniferous tetrapod Greererpeton burkemorani Romer, 1969. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 323:75–133.Google Scholar
Goldfuss, G. A. 1847. Beiträge zur Vorweltlichen Fauna des Steinkohlegebirges. Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereins für rheinlande und Westphalen, 27 p.Google Scholar
Gregory, W. K. 1949. The humerus from fish to man. American Museum Novitates, 1400:1–54.Google Scholar
Gregory, W. K., and Raven, H. C. 1941. Studies on the origin and early evolution of paired fins and limbs. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 42:273–360.Google Scholar
Gregory, W. K., Miner, R. W., and Noble, G. K. 1923. The carpus of Eryops and the structure of the primitive chiropterygium. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 48:279–288.Google Scholar
Haughton, S. H. 1915. Investigations in South African fossil Reptilia and Amphibia (parts 5–9). Annals of the South African Museum, 12:65–77.Google Scholar
Heaton, M. J. 1980. The Cotylosauria: A reconsideration of a group of archaic tetrapods, p. 497–551. In Panchen, A. L. (ed.), The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates. Systematics Association Special Volume. Vol. 15. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Hentz, T. F., and Brown, L. F. 1987. Wichita Falls-Lawton sheet. In Geologic Atlas of Texas. Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. 1977. The osteology and musculature of the pectoral limb of small captorhinids. Journal of Morphology, 152:101–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, R. 1980. Proterogyrinus scheelei and the early evolution of the labyrinthodont pectoral limb, p. 351–376. In Panchen, A. L. (ed.), The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. 1984. The Carboniferous amphibian Proterogyrinus scheelei Romer, and the early evolution of tetrapods. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 306:431–527.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. 2000. Palaeozoic Temnospondyls, p. 1081–1149. In Heatwole, H. and Carroll, R. L. (eds.), Palaeontology: The Evolutionary History of Amphibians. Amphibian Biology. Vol. 4. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. B., Carroll, R. L., and Reisz, R. R. 1998. The first articulated skeleton of Dendrerpeton acadianum (Temnospondyli, Dendrerpetontidae) from the Lower Pennsylvanian locality of Joggins Nova Scotia, and a review of its relationships. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18:64–79.Google Scholar
Howie, A. A. 1970. A new capitosaurid labyrinthodont from East Africa. Palaeontology, 13:210–253.Google Scholar
Huxley, T. H. 1859. On some amphibian and reptilian remains from South Africa and Australia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 15:642–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, G. F. 1828. Über Die Fossile Reptilien, Welche in Württemberg Aufgefunden Worden Sind. J. B. Metzer, Stuttgart, 48 p.Google Scholar
Jaekel, O. 1902. Ueber einen neuen paläozoischen Tetrapodentypus: Gephyrostegus bohemicus n. g. n. sp. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft, 54:127–132.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1952. On the fish-like tail in the ichthyostegid stegocephalians with descriptions of a new stegocephalian and a new crossopterygian from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, 114:1–90.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1996. The Devonian tetrapod Ichthyostega . Fossils and Strata, 40:1–213.Google Scholar
Kuhn, O. 1961. Die Familien der Rezenten und Fossilien Amphibien und Reptilien. Druckhaus Meisenbach and Oeben KG, Bamberg, 79 p.Google Scholar
Langston, W. 1953. Permian amphibians from New Mexico. University of California Publications, Department of Geological Science, 29:349–416.Google Scholar
Lebedev, O. A. 1984. First discovery of a Devonian tetrapod in USSR. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, 278:1470–1473.Google Scholar
Lebedev, O. A., and Coates, M. I. 1995. The postcranial skeleton of the Devonian tetrapod Tulerpeton curtum Lebedev. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 114:307–348.Google Scholar
Lydekker, R. 1889. Notes on the occurance of a species of Bothriceps in the Karoo System of South Africa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 6:475–476.Google Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1878. Notice of new fossil reptiles. American Journal of Science, 15:409–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNamara, K. J. 1986. A guide to the nomenclature of heterochrony. Journal of Paleontology, 60:4–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNamara, K. J. 1988. The abundance of heterochrony in the fossil record, p. 287–325. In McKinney, M. L. (ed.), Heterochrony in Evolution: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Meckert, D. 1993. The pectorial girdle of Sclerocephalus haeuseri Goldfuss, 1847 in comparison with Eryops Cope, 1877 (Eryopoida, Amphibia, Permian). Palaeontographica Abteilung A-Palaozoologie-Stratigraphie, 229:113–140. (In German) Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1990. The radiations of temnospondyl amphibians, p. 321–349. In Taylor, P. D. and Larwood, G. P. (eds.), Major Evolutionary Radiations. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R. 1996. Systematics of the genus Eryops (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) and its possible biostratigraphical value. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, supplement to no. 16:53A.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R., and Sequeira, S. E. K. 1994. The temnospondyl amphibians from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 84:331–361.Google Scholar
Miner, R. W. 1925. The pectoral limb of Eryops and other primitive tetrapods. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 51:145–312.Google Scholar
Moodie, R. L. 1910. The temnospondylous amphibia and a new species of Eryops from the Permian of Oklahoma. Kansas University Science Bulletin, 5:235–253.Google Scholar
Moulton, J. M. 1974. A description of the vertebral column of Eryops based on the notes and drawings of A. S. Romer. Breviora, 428:1–10.Google Scholar
Moustafa, Y. S. 1955. The affinities of Parioxys ferricolus and the phylogeny of the ‘eryopsoid’ amphibians. Bulletin of the Institute of Egypt, 36:77–104.Google Scholar
Olson, E. C. 1936. The ilio-sacral attachment of Eryops . Journal of Paleontology, 10:648–651.Google Scholar
Olson, E. C. 1941. The family Trematopsidae. Journal of Geology, 49:149–176.Google Scholar
Olson, E. C., and Vaughn, P. P. 1970. The changes of terrestrial vertebrates and climates during the Permian of North America. Forma et functio, 3:113–138.Google Scholar
Ortner, D. J. 2003. Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Academic Press, San Diego, 645 p.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1853. Notes on the above-described fossil remains. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 9:66–67.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. 1959. A new armoured amphibian from the Upper Permian of East Africa. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 242:207–281.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. 1970. Anthracosauria, p. 1–2. In Kuhn, O. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Vol. 5A. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Pawley, K., and Warren, A. A. 2002. The postcranial skeleton of temnospondyl amphibians. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, supplement to no. 22:95A.Google Scholar
Pawley, K., and Warren, A. A. 2004. Immaturity vs. paedomorphism: A rhinesuchid stereospondyl postcranium from the Upper Permian of South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana, 40:1–10.Google Scholar
Pawley, K., and Warren, A. A. 2005. A terrestrial stereospondyl from the Lower Triassic of South Africa: The postcranial skeleton of Lydekkerina huxleyi (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). Palaeontology, 48:281–298.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1922. The locomotor apparatus of certain primitive and mammal-like reptiles. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 46:517–606.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1935. Early history of the Texas redbeds vertebrates. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 46:1597–1658.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1946. The primitive reptile Limnoscelis restudied. American Journal of Science, 244:149–188.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1947. Review of the Labyrinthodontia. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, 99:1–352.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1956. The Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 722 p.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1957. The appendicular skeleton of the Permian embolomerous amphibian Archeria . Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 13:103–159.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1969. A temnospondylous labyrinthodont from the Lower Carboniferous. Kirtlandia, 6:1–20.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1970. A new anthracosaur labyrinthodont Proterogyrinus scheelei, from the Lower Carboniferous. Kirtlandia, 10:1–16.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1974. The stratigraphy of the Permian Wichita redbeds of Texas. Brevoria, 427:1–31.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S., and Price, L. W. 1940. Review of the Pelycosauria. Geological Society of America Special Papers. Vol. 28. Waverly Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 538 p.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S., and Witter, R. V. 1942. Edops, a primitive rhachitomous amphibian from the Texas red beds. Journal of Geology, 50:925–960.Google Scholar
Ruta, M., Coates, M. I., and Quicke, D. L. J. 2003. Early tetrapod relationships revisited. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 78:251–345.Google Scholar
Sander, P. M. 1987. Taphonomy of the Lower Permian Geraldine bonebed in Archer County, Texas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 61:221–236.Google Scholar
Sander, P. M. 1989. Early Permian depositional environments and pond bonebeds in central Archer County, Texas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 69:1–21.Google Scholar
Säve-Söderbergh, G. 1932. Preliminary note on Devonian stegocephalians from East Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, 94:1–107.Google Scholar
Säve-Söderbergh, G. 1934. Some points of view concerning the evolution of vertebrates and the classification of this group. Arkiv för Zoologi, 26A:1–20.Google Scholar
Sawin, H. J. 1941. The cranial anatomy of Eryops megacephalus . Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, 88:405–464.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, B. 1941. The morphological and functional evolution of the tarsus in amphibians and reptiles. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 78:395–472.Google Scholar
Schoch, R. R. 1995. Heterochrony and the development of the amphibian head, p. 107–124. In McNamara, K. J. (ed.), Evolutionary Change and Heterochrony. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.Google Scholar
Schoch, R. R. 1999. Comparative osteology of Mastodonsaurus giganteus (Jaeger, 1828) from the Middle Triassic (Lettenkeuper: Longobardian) of Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Thüringen). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie), 278:1–175.Google Scholar
Steyer, J.-S. 2000. Ontogeny and phylogeny in temnospondyls: A new method of analysis. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 130:449–467.Google Scholar
Steyer, J.-S., Laurin, M., Castenet, J., and De Ricqlès, A. 2004. First histological and skeletochronological data on temnospondyl growth: Palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 206:193–201.Google Scholar
Sumida, S. S., Berman, D. S., and Martens, T. 1998. A new trematopsid amphibian from the lower Permian of central Germany. Palaeontology, 41:605–629.Google Scholar
Vallin, G., and Laurin, M. 2004. Cranial morphology and affinities of Microbrachis, and a reappraisal of the phylogeny and lifestyle of the first amphibians. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:56–72.Google Scholar
Van Hoepen, E. C. N. 1911. Korte voorlopige beschrijving van te Senekal gevonden stegocephalen. Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 3:102–106.Google Scholar
Van Hoepen, E. C. N. 1915. Stegocephalia of Senekal, O. F. S. Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 5:129–149.Google Scholar
Vaughn, P. P. 1969. Upper Pennsylvanian vertebrates from the Sangre de Cristo Formation of central Colorado. Los Angeles City Museum Contributions to Science, 164:1–27.Google Scholar
Warren, A. A., and Hutchinson, M. N. 1983. The last labyrinthodont? A new brachyopoid (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) from the Early Jurassic Evergreen Formation of Queensland, Australia. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London B, 303:1–62.Google Scholar
Warren, A. A., and Ptasznik, R. 2002. The earliest fractured tetrapod bone. Alcheringa, 26:459–463.Google Scholar
Warren, A. A., and Turner, S. 2004. The first stem tetrapod from the Lower Carboniferous of Gondwana. Palaeontology, 47:151–184.Google Scholar
Watson, D. M. S. 1913. On Micropholis stowi Huxley, a temnospondylous amphibian from South Africa. Geological Magazine, 10:340–346.Google Scholar
White, T. E. 1939. Osteology of Seymouria baylorensis Broili. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, 85:325–409.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1899. Notes on the coraco-scapula of Eryops Cope. Kansas University Quarterly, 8:185–186.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1909. New or little known Permian vertebrates: Trematops, new genus. Journal of Geology, 17:636–658.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1910a. Cacops, Desmospondylus; new genera of Permian vertebrates. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 21:249–284.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1910b. Dissorophus Cope. Journal of Geology, 18:526–536.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1911a. American Permian Vertebrates. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 144 p.Google Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1911b. A new family of reptiles from the Permian of New Mexico. American Journal of Science, 31:378–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1912. Restoration of Limnoscelis, a cotylosaur reptile from New Mexico. American Journal of Science, 34:457–468.Google Scholar
Wyman, J. 1858. On some remains of batrachian reptiles discovered in the coal formation of Ohio, by Dr J. S. Newberry and C. M. Wheatley. American Journal of Science, 2:158–163.Google Scholar
Yates, A. M., and Warren, A. A. 2000. The phylogeny of the ‘higher’ temnospondyls (Vertebrata: Choanata) and its implications for the monophyly and origins of the Stereospondyli. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 128:77–121.Google Scholar
Zittel, K. A. 1888. Handbuch der Palæontologie. Abteilung 1. Palæozoologie Band III. Vertebrata (Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves). München, 900 p.Google Scholar