Baphetoidea is a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

of early

tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...

s. It includes the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Baphetidae and several more basal

genera 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 nomenclat ...

such as '' Eucritta'' and ''

Spathicephalus ''Spathicephalus'' is an extinct genus of stem tetrapods (early four-limbed vertebrates) that lived during the middle of the Carboniferous Period. The genus includes two species: the type species ''S. mirus'' from Scotland, which is known from t ...

'' (which has been given its own family Spathicephalidae). The superfamily has also been called Loxommatoidea, but this name is a junior synonym of Baphetoidea.

Taxonomy

Baphetoidea was named by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested ...

in 1875. The name Loxommatoidea was erected by D.M.S. Watson in 1929 for baphetids such as '' Loxomma'', which were then known as loxommatids. Loxommatids were later shown to be members of Baphetidae, and Loxommatoidea was synonymized with Baphetoidea as a result. Because Baphetoidea was the first erected name, it has priority over Loxommatoidea.

References

Carboniferous vertebrates Vertebrate superfamilies {{carboniferous-animal-stub