The Micropholidae are an extinct
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 ...
of
dissorophoid
Dissorophoideans are a clade of medium-sized, temnospondyl amphibians that appeared during the Moscovian in Euramerica, and continued through to the Late Permian and the Early Triassic of Gondwana. They are distinguished by various details of the ...
euskelia
Euskelia is a clade of extinct Temnospondyl amphibians. ''Euskelia'' is a stem-based taxon including all temnospondyls more closely related to ''Eryops'' than to ''Parotosuchus
''Parotosuchus'' is an extinct genus of capitosaurian temnospondyl ...
n
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 ...
s known from Late
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
to
Early Triassic
The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which is a un ...
strata in the United States and South Africa.
Systematics
Members of Micropholidae were historically included in
Amphibamidae
The Amphibamidae are an extinct family of dissorophoid temnospondyls known from Late Carboniferous-Early Permian strata in the United States.
Classification
Amphibamidae has traditionally included small-bodied, terrestrial dissorophoids. The n ...
, but Schoch (2019) recovered Amphibamidae as paraphyletic, necessitating resurrection of Micropholidae for ''Micropholis'' and closely related taxa.
[Rainer R. Schoch (2018). The putative lissamphibian stem-group: phylogeny and evolution of the dissorophoid temnospondyls. Journal of Paleontology. Online edition. doi:10.1017/jpa.2018.67.]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q21228222
Dissorophoids
Prehistoric amphibian families
Permian temnospondyls
Carboniferous temnospondyls
Carboniferous amphibians of North America
Permian amphibians of North America
Triassic amphibians of North America
Mesozoic amphibians of Africa