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Rhinesuchidae
Rhinesuchidae is a family of tetrapods that lived primarily in the Permian period. They belonged to the broad group Temnospondyli, a successful and diverse collection of semiaquatic tetrapods which modern amphibians are probably descended from. Rhinesuchids can be differentiated from other temnospondyls by details of their skulls, most notably the interior structure of their otic notches at the back of the skull. They were among the earliest-diverging members of the Stereospondyli, a subgroup of temnospondyls with flat heads and aquatic habits. Although more advanced stereospondyls evolved to reach worldwide distribution in the Triassic period, rhinesuchids primarily lived in the high-latitude environments of Gondwana (what is now South America and Africa) during the Guadalupian and Lopingian epochs of the Permian. The taxonomy of this family has been convoluted, with more than twenty species having been named in the past; a 2017 review recognized only eight of them (distributed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhineceps
''Rhineceps'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian in the family Rhinesuchidae. ''Rhineceps'' was found in Northern Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) in Southern Africa known only from its type species ''R. nyasaensis''. ''Rhineceps'' was a late Permian (256-258 Mya) semi-aquatic carnivore that lived in streams, rivers, lakes or lagoons. ''Rhineceps'' is an early divergent Stereopondyl within the family Rhinesuchidae, which only existed in the late Permian (Lopingian) and failed to survive the Permian-Triassic extinction unlike other stereospondyl families. History ''Rhineceps'' was originally discovered in the “Upper Bone Beds” of the Chiweta Beds, North Waller Area in Northern Malawi. The fossil was first described and named by Haughton in 1926, whereby he describes the fossil of a left mandibular ramus of ''R. nyasaensis'' as within the genus ''Rhinesuchus'' due to its similarity with the fossils of ''Rhinesuchus whaitsi.'' Watson later determined in a letter to P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australerpeton
''Australerpeton'' is an extinct genus of stereospondylomorph temnospondyl currently believed to belong to the family Rhinesuchidae. When first named in 1998, the genus was placed within the new family Australerpetontidae. However, studies published a few years later questioned the systematics used in the original description and included the genus within Archegosauridae.Schoch, R. R. and Milner, A. R. (2000). ''Stereospondyli. Stem-stereospondyli, Rhinesuchidae, Rhytidostea, Trematosauroidea, Capitosauroidea''. Handbuch der paläoherpetologie Part 3B. 203p A study by Dias & Schultz (2003) reassigned ''Australerpeton'' to the family Rhinesuchidae within the suborder Stereospondyli based on an earlier evaluation of the family. In this study, the close similarities between ''Australerpeton'' and archegosaurids were attributed to convergent evolution as a result of similar semi-aquatic lifestyles. A redescription of the skeleton of this genus was published by Eltink & Langer in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temnospondyli
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 bon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stereospondyli
The Stereospondyli are a group of extinct temnospondyl amphibians that existed primarily during the Mesozoic period. They are known from all seven continents and were common components of many Triassic ecosystems, likely filling a similar ecological niche to modern crocodilians prior to the diversification of pseudosuchian archosaurs. Classification and anatomy The group was first defined by Zittel (1888) on the recognition of the distinctive vertebral anatomy of the best known stereospondyls of the time, such as ''Mastodonsaurus'' and '' Metoposaurus''. The term 'stereospondylous' as a descriptor of vertebral anatomy was coined the following year by Fraas, referring to a vertebral position consisting largely or entirely of the intercentrum in addition to the neural arch. While the name 'Stereospondyli' is derived from the stereospondylous vertebral condition, there is a diversity of vertebral morphologies among stereospondyls, including the diplospondylous (' tupilakosaurid') c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rastosuchus
''Rastosuchus'' is an extinct genus of stereospondyl temnospondyl within the family Rhinesuchidae. It contains one species, ''Rastosuchus hammeri'', found in the Permian Rio do Rasto Formation of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area .... History of study The name ''Rastosuchus hammeri'' was used as early as 1980 and then on several other instances, but because none of these usages formalized the name via a formal description, the name was considered to be a '' nomen nudum'' until formally described by Dias et al. (2020). Some of the material was also previously mentioned without nomenclatural assignment. A partial description of a nearly complete skull now assigned to this taxon was presented by Barberena & Dias (1998), and the phylogenetic position (as the "Ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhinesuchoides
''Rhinesuchoides'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric temnospondyl in the family Rhinesuchidae. It contains two species, ''R. tenuiceps'' and ''R. capensis'', both from the Karoo Supergroup of South Africa. The latter was formerly a species of ''Rhinesuchus''. 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 Stereospondyls {{temnospondyli-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laccosaurus
''Laccosaurus'' is an extinct monotypic genus of rhinesuchid temnospondyl amphibian, 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 ... being ''Laccosaurus watsoni''. History of study ''Laccosaurus'' ''watsoni'' was named by paleontologist Sidney H. Haughton in 1925 on the basis of a largely complete skull from the ''Dicynodon-Theriognathus'' subzone of the ''Daptocephalus'' Assemblage Zone in South Africa. This genus and/or species has sometimes been synonymized with '' Uranocentrodon'', but this framework has not been adopted by recent workers. However, there is uncertainty related to the single referred specimen (BPI/1/4473); Eltink et al. (2019) consider this to belong to a different taxon, while Marsicano et al. (2017) considered it to belong to ''L. wats ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uranocentrodon
''Uranocentrodon'' is an extinct genus of the family Rhinesuchidae. Known from a skull, ''Uranocentrodon'' was a large predator with a length up to . Originally named ''Myriodon'' by van Hoepen in 1911, it was transferred to a new genus on account of the name being preoccupied in 1917. It has been synonymized with ''Rhinesuchus'', but this has not been widely supported. It was also originally considered to be of Triassic age, but more recent analysis has placed its age as just below the Permian-Triassic boundary. History and specimens Fossils of the animal now known as ''Uranocentrodon'' were first discovered in a sandstone quarry in the Normandien Formation near Senekal in Free State, South Africa. The first example of these fossils was a fragmentary skull excavated by a local family. Subsequent excavations and searches undertaken by various parties unearthed more specimens which hailed from the quarry. Among these specimens included three nearly complete skeletons overlappi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lydekkerina
''Lydekkerina'' is an extinct genus of stereospondyl temnospondyl. It is the type genus of the family Lydekkerinidae. Fossils have been collected from Early Triassic deposits in South Africa and Australia. The type species is '' L. huxleyi'', first described in 1889. While most other stereospondyls were semiaquatic, ''Lydekkerina'' was exclusively terrestrial. Description ''Lydekkerina'' was a relatively small temnospondyl, growing up to around in length. Skulls range in length from in the smallest known individual to up to in larger individuals. The skull is wedge-shaped and has a parabolic outline with convex lateral margins. Shallow pits cover the surface of the skull. Teeth line the palate as well as the jaws, and some skulls even bear large ectopterygoid tusks on the underside of the skull. ''Lydekkerina'' can be distinguished from other lydekkerinids on the basis of several skull characteristics. One such feature is the presence of vomerine shagreen, tiny bumps cove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhinesuchus
''Rhinesuchus'' (meaning "rasp crocodile" for the ridged surface texture on its skull bones) is a large temnospondyl amphibian. Remains of the genus are known from the Permian of the South African Karoo Basin's ''Tapinocephalus'' and ''Cistecephalus'' assemblage zones, both belonging to the Beaufort Group. The skull of ''Rhinesuchus'' had a flat triangular shape with blunt snout similar to some of the other large amphibians, and had a palate filled with small sharp teeth, suggesting that it hunted fish. Also, the small eyes were on top of the head suggesting that it approached its prey from below. The name ''Rhinesuchus'' comes from Greek ρίνη (''rhine'') "file, rasp" plus σούχος (''soukhos'') "crocodile" for the skull surface texture: "The upper cranial bones are ornamented by a rather fine reticulation of sharp ridges". (The name does not mean "nose crocodile" (as if from Greek ''rhis, rhinos'' "nose") or refer to the Rhine River in Germany.) The type species is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broomistega
''Broomistega'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian in the family Rhinesuchidae. It is known from one species, ''Broomistega putterilli'', which was renamed in 2000 from ''Lydekkerina putterilli'' Broom 1930. Fossils are known from the Early Triassic ''Lystrosaurus'' Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group in the Karoo Basin of present-day South Africa, a region that had been an enclave of Gondwana. Specimens of ''B. putterilli'' were once thought to represent young individuals of another larger rhinesuchid such as '' Uranocentrodon'', but the species is now regarded as a paedomorphic taxon, possessing the features of juvenile rhinesuchids into adulthood. In 2013, a well-preserved skeleton of ''Broomistega'' was discovered alongside the skeleton of the cynodont ''Thrinaxodon'' (a mammal relative) in a cast of a burrow. The individual probably entered the burrow while the cynodont was in a state of aestivation (dormancy), and afterwards a flash flood filled the bur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parapytanga
''Parapytanga'' is an extinct monotypic genus of temnospondyl amphibian, the type species being ''Parapytanga catarinensis''. ''Parapytanga'' belongs to the family Rhinesuchidae. Fossils have been found in the Middle Permian Rio do Rasto Formation The Rio do Rasto Formation is a Late Permian sedimentary geological formation in the South Region of Brazil. The official name is Rio do Rasto, although in some publications it appears as ''Rio do Rastro''. Geography It is found mainly in the B ... of Brazil.A. Strapasson, F. L. Pinheiro, and M. B. Soares. 2015. On a New Stereospondylomorph Temnospondyl from the Middle—Late Permian of Southern Brazil. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60(4):843-855 . Butler/E. Dunne/ref> References Permian amphibians of South America Monotypic amphibian genera Prehistoric vertebrate genera Taxa named by Sidney H. Haughton Fossil taxa described in 1925 {{Permian-animal-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
