Capitosauria is an extinct group of large temnospondyl amphibians with simplified stereospondyl vertebrae. Mainly living as

piscivore A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

s in lakes and rivers, the Capitosauria and its

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

Trematosauria were the only major labyrinthodonts that existed during the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

in ecological niches broadly similar to those of modern crocodiles, and some grew to very large sizes. At 6 meters in length, the Mid-Triassic '' Mastodonsaurus giganteus'' is not only thought to have been the largest capitosaur, but possibly also the largest amphibian to have lived. The latest known remains are from the Rhaetian of Germany and are referred to '' Cyclotosaurus''. Capitosauria was first named by Schoch and Milner (2000) and further described by Yates and Warren (2000), who assigned '' Lydekkerina'' and Mastodonsauroidea to it. It was described by Damiani (2001) under the name Mastodonsauroidea. In their phylogenetic analysis of temnospondyls, Ruta ''et al.'' (2007) placed ''Lydekkerina'' and its relatives within the clade Rhytidostea, while placing only mastodonsauroid taxa within Capitosauria.

Phylogeny

Below is a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

from Fortuny ''et al.'' (2011) showing the

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

relationships of capitosaurs:

References

External links

Capitosauria
in the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

Triassic temnospondyls Triassic first appearances Triassic extinctions Capitosaurs {{triassic-animal-stub