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| - Temnospondyls have been known since the early 19th century, and were initially thought to be reptiles. They were described at various times as batrachians, stegocephalians, and labyrinthodonts, although these names are now rarely used. Animals now grouped in Temnospondyli were spread out among several amphibian groups until the early 20th century, when they were found to belong to a distinct taxon based on the structure of their vertebrae. Temnospondyli means "cut vertebrae", as each vertebra is divided into several parts.
- Temnospondyli are one of the largest recognized groups of early amphibians with about 180 described genera. The Permian-Triassic extinction event wiped out several families, but the surviving lineages rediversified, and temnospondyls remained numerous through the Triassic before declining in the later Mesozoic era, the last survivor (Koolasuchus) is known from fossils found in the mid-Cretaceous rocks of Australia.
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| abstract
| - Temnospondyls have been known since the early 19th century, and were initially thought to be reptiles. They were described at various times as batrachians, stegocephalians, and labyrinthodonts, although these names are now rarely used. Animals now grouped in Temnospondyli were spread out among several amphibian groups until the early 20th century, when they were found to belong to a distinct taxon based on the structure of their vertebrae. Temnospondyli means "cut vertebrae", as each vertebra is divided into several parts. Authorities disagree over whether temnospondyls were ancestral to modern amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and caecilians), or whether the whole group died out without leaving any descendants. Different hypotheses have placed modern amphibians as the descendants of temnospondyls, another group of early tetrapods called lepospondyls, or even as descendants of both groups (with caecilians evolving from lepospondyls and frogs and salamanders evolving from temnospondyls). Recent studies place a family of temnosondyls called the amphibamids as the closest relatives of modern amphibians. Similarities in teeth, skulls, and hearing structures link the two groups.
- Temnospondyli are one of the largest recognized groups of early amphibians with about 180 described genera. The Permian-Triassic extinction event wiped out several families, but the surviving lineages rediversified, and temnospondyls remained numerous through the Triassic before declining in the later Mesozoic era, the last survivor (Koolasuchus) is known from fossils found in the mid-Cretaceous rocks of Australia. Most temnospondyls were 30 cm (1 ft) to 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, with a few forms growing to 2 m (6 ft), and one example, Prionosuchus, reaching lengths of 30 feet. During their evolutionary history they adapted to a very wide range of habitats, including fresh-water aquatic, semi-aquatic, amphibious, terrestrial, and in one group even near-shore marine, and their fossil remains have been found on every continent. Authorities disagree over whether some specialized forms were ancestral to some modern amphibians, or whether the whole group died out without leaving any descendants.
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