''Edops'' ('swollen face') is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

temnospondyl Temnospondyli (from Greek language, Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') is a diverse order (biology), order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered Labyrinthodontia, primitive amphi ...

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

from the Early

Permian Period 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 Paleozo ...

. Unlike more advanced temnospondyls of the time, such as ''

Eryops ''Eryops'' (; from Greek , , 'drawn-out' + , , 'face', because most of its skull was in front of its eyes) is a genus of extinct, amphibious temnospondyls. It contains the single species , the fossils of which are found mainly in early Permian (a ...

'', ''Edops'' exhibited an archaic pattern of palatal bones, and still possessed various additional bones at the back of the skull. Edopoids also had particularly big premaxillae (the bones that form the tip of the snout) and proportionally small external nostrils. Within the clade, the most basal member seems to be ''Edops'' from the Early Permian

Archer City Formation The Archer City Formation is a geologic formation in Texas. It preserves fossils dating back to the Permian period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Texas * Paleontology in Texas Paleontology in Texas refers to paleont ...

of the US, a broad-skulled animal with large palatal teeth. ''Edops'' was fairly big, at in length. Fragmentary remains from the Viséan of Scotland appear to come from ''Edops'' or a close relative and hence predate the type Edops material of the Permian. The American paleontologist

Alfred Sherwood Romer Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 – November 5, 1973) was an American paleontologist and biologist and a specialist in vertebrate evolution. Biography Alfred Romer was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Harry Houston Romer an ...

named ''Edops'' "swollen face" (from Greek ''oidos'' "swelling" and Greek ''ops'' "face") in 1936, noting that the "premaxillaries are greatly thickened and produced externally into rounded swellings (whence the generic name)." (The Latinized spelling "''edo''" for "''oidos''" resembles the Latin word ''edo'' meaning a glutton, but this is not the formal etymology.) In a 1943 popular article, Romer explained that the original fossil find was nicknamed "Grandpa Bumps" for the lumps of bone, which had survived while the rest of the first skull had been largely destroyed. Romer and his preparator R. V. Witter from Harvard University described ''Edops'' in more detail from additional fossil material in 1942.Romer, A. S., Witter, R. V. (1942). "''Edops'', a primitive rhachitomous amphibian from the Texas red beds." ''The Journal of Geology'' 50(8): 925-960. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/625101

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