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Brachyopoidea
Brachyopoidea is a superfamily of temnospondyls that lived during the Mesozoic. It contains the families Brachyopidae and Chigutisauridae. The earliest records of brachyopids are from the Lower Triassic in Australia. The latest-surviving member of the superfamily is the chigutisaurid ''Koolasuchus'' from the Early Cretaceous of Australia. Description Some large brachiopoids, such as ''Siderops'' and ''Koolasuchus'', grew to lengths of around . However, an unnamed Late Triassic or Early Jurassic brachiopoid from Lesotho in southern Africa is estimated to have been far larger. At an estimated , the brachiopoid from Lesotho is one of the largest amphibians '' sensu lato'' ever known. This estimate is based on a single jaw fragment found in 1970 by a French expedition near Alwynskop in Quthing. 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 larg ...
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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 Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic periods. A few species continued into the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Fossils have been found on every continent. During about 210 million years of evolutionary history, they adapted to a wide range of habitats, including freshwater, terrestrial, and even coastal marine environments. Their life history is well understood, with fossils known from the larval stage, metamorphosis, and maturity. Most temnospondyls were semiaquatic, although some were almost fully terrestrial, returning to the water only to breed. These temnospondyls were some of the first vertebrates fully adapted to life on land. Although temnospondyls are considered amphibians, many had characteristics, such as scales and armour-like bony ...
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Koolasuchus
''Koolasuchus'' is an extinct genus of brachyopoid temnospondyl in the family Chigutisauridae. Fossils have been found from Victoria, Australia and date back 120 Ma to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous. ''Koolasuchus'' is the youngest known temnospondyl. ''Koolasuchus'' is known from several fragments of the skull and other bones such as vertebrae, ribs, and pectoral elements. The type species ''Koolasuchus cleelandi'' was named in 1997. ''Koolasuchus cleelandi'' was adopted as the fossil emblem for the state of Victoria, Australia on 13 January 2022. History The first fossil of temnospondyls found in the Strzelecki Group was NMV-PI56988, the posterior fragment of a jaw, collected around 1980. The jaw fragment was first mentioned in a 1986 publication by Anne Warren and R. Jupp, who did not definitively identify it as that of a temnospondyl due to the Cretaceous age of the specimen, much younger than any other known temnospondyl specimen at the time. In 1991, additional re ...
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Batrachosaurus
''Batrachosaurus'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric brachyopoid amphibian that lived in Germany during the Middle Triassic (Ladinian). The genus was named by Joseph Fitzinger in 1837 and the type species, ''B. jaegeri'', was named three years later in 1840. It may have been the same animal as ''Mastodonsaurus''. See also * Prehistoric amphibian * List of prehistoric amphibians This list of prehistoric amphibians is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all Genus, genera from the fossil record that have ever been considered to be amphibians, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accep ... References Brachyopids {{temnospondyli-stub ...
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Brachyopidae
Brachyopidae is an extinct family of temnospondyl labyrintodonts. 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 '' Prionosuchus''.Steyer, J.S. & Damiani, R. (2005): A giant brachyopoid temnospondyl from the Upper Triassic or Lower Jurassic of Lesotho. ''Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France'', no. 3: pp 243-248.abstract/ref> Brachyopids were the only group of temnospondyls to survive into the Jurassic aside from their sister family Chigutisauridae. With records of the family from the Jurassic of Asia. List of genera *''Banksiops'' *''Batrachosaurus'' *''Batrachosuchoides'' *''Batrachosuchus'' *'' Brachyops'' *'' Gobiops'' *'' Notobrachyops'' *'' Platycepsion'' *''Sinobrachyops'' *''Vanastega'' *''Xenobrachyops ''Xenobrachyops'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Triassic of Australia, describing a s ...
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Pelorocephalus Mendozensis
''Pelorocephalus'' (meaning "monstrous head" in Greek) is an extinct genus of chigutisaurid temnospondyls from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Cacheutá Formation of the Cuyo Basin and the Ischigualasto Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, both in northwestern Argentina. Three species are currently recognized: the type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specime ... ''P. mendozensis'', which was named in 1944, ''P. tenax'', which was named in 1949 as a species of '' Chigutisaurus'' and reassigned to ''Pelorocephalus'' in 1999, and ''P. cacheutensis'', which was named in 1953 as another species of ''Chigutisaurus'' and reassigned to ''Pelorocephalus'' along with ''P. tenax''. A fourth species, ''P. ischigualastensis'', was named in 1975 after the formation i ...
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Chigutisauridae
Chigutisauridae is an extinct family of large temnospondyl amphibians. 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 Late Triassic they became widely distributed in Gondwana, with fossils found in South Africa, India and South America. '' Koolasuchus'' from the Early Cretaceous of Australia represents the youngest known temnospondyl. List of genera *'' Chigutisaurus'' *''Compsocerops'' *''Keratobrachyops'' (placement uncertain) *'' Koolasuchus'' *''Kuttycephalus'' *''Pelorocephalus'' *''Siderops ''Siderops'' is an extinct genus of chigutisaurid temnospondyl from Early Jurassic of Australia, containing the species ''S. kehli''. It is solely known from the holotype specimen, which consists of a nearly complete skull with mandible and pos ...'' References *Sengupta, D.P. 1995Chigutisaurid temnspondyls from the Late Triassic of India and a ...
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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 concept, but it also appears in expressions that indicate the convention or context of the usage. Common qualifiers ''Sensu'' is the ablative case of the noun ''sensus'', here meaning "sense". It is often accompanied by an adjective (in the same case). Three such phrases are: *''sensu stricto'' – "in the strict sense", abbreviation ''s.s.'' or ''s.str.''; *''sensu lato'' – "in the broad sense", abbreviation ''s.l.''; *''sensu amplo'' – "in a relaxed, generous (or 'ample') sense", a similar meaning to ''sensu lato''. Søren Kierkegaard uses the phrase ''sensu eminenti'' to mean "in the pre-eminent r most important or significantsense". When appropriate, comparative and superlative adjectives may also be used to convey the meaning of ...
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Quthing District
Quthing is a district of Lesotho. Moyeni (also known as Quthing), is the camp town or capital of the district. There are two of the most important sets of dinosaur footprints in the region. There is a large panel of Bushman paintings at Qomoqomong. Quthing district is home to the Masitise Cave House, a satellite location of the Morija Museum & Archives. In the southwest, south and east, Quthing borders on the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Domestically, it borders Mohale's Hoek District in the north and Qacha's Nek District in the northeast. As of 2006, the district had a population of 124,048 which was 6.61 per cent of the total population of the country. The total area of the district was 2,916 which was 9.61 per cent of the total area of the country. As of 2008, there were totally 62,602 employed people out of a total of 140,057 people in the district above 15 years of age. Demographics As of 2006, the district had a population of 124,048, 6.61 per cent of the popul ...
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Mastodonsauridae
Mastodonsauridae is a family of capitosauroid temnospondyls. Fossils belonging to this family have been found in North America, Greenland, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The family Capitosauridae is synonymous with Mastodonsauridae. Description Size Mastodonsaurids were generally large amphibians, with some length estimates ranging from 3 to 6 meters. Some genera, like '' Mastodonsaurus'' and '' Cyclotosaurus'' were specially large, reaching at least 4 meters or more. Other genera like '' Parotosuchus'' and ''Paracyclotosaurus'' only reached 2 meters or more in length, but it's still pretty large compared to modern-day amphibians. Distinguishing features Some mastodonsaurids including ''Parotosuchus'' were covered in a scaly skin, unlike the smooth skin of modern-day amphibians, and probably moved with an eel-like motion in the water. Another peculiar mastodonsaurid is ''Sclerothorax'', with unusual features including its elongated neural spines. The neural spines are talles ...
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Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population of about million. It was previously the British Crown colony of Basutoland, which declared independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966. It is a fully sovereign state and is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Community. The name ''Lesotho'' roughly translates to "land of the Sotho". History Basutoland Basutoland emerged as a single polity under King Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1820 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lif ...
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