Lepospondyli is a diverse taxon of early tetrapods. With the exception of one late-surviving lepospondyl from the Late Permian of Morocco (Diplocaulus minimus),[4] lepospondyls lived from the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) to the Early Permian and were geographically restricted to what is now Europe and North America.[5] Five major groups of lepospondyls are known: Adelospondyli; Aïstopoda; Lysorophia; Microsauria; and Nectridea. Lepospondyls have a diverse range of body forms and include species with newt-like, eel- or snake-like, and lizard-like forms. Various species were aquatic, semiaquatic, or terrestrial. None were large (the biggest genus, the diplocaulid Diplocaulus, reached a meter in length, but most were much smaller), and they are assumed to have lived in specialized ecological niches not taken by the more numerous temnospondyl amphibians that coexisted with them in the Paleozoic.
Lepospondyli was named in 1888 by Karl Alfred von Zittel, who coined the name to include some tetrapods from the Paleozoic that shared some specific characteristics in the notochord and teeth. Lepospondyls have sometimes been considered to be either related or ancestral to modern amphibians[6][7][8] or to Amniota (the clade containing reptiles and mammals).[9] It has been suggested that the grouping is polyphyletic, with aïstopods being primitive stem-tetrapods, while recumbirostran microsaurs are primitive reptiles.[10]
^Andrews, S.M.; Carroll, R.L. (1991). "The Order Adelospondyli: Carboniferous lepospondyl amphibians". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences. 82 (3): 239–275. doi:10.1017/s0263593300005332. S2CID 84460890.
^Anderson, J. S.; Kissel, R. A. (2002). "Lepospondyl diversity in the Early Permian and Late Pennsylvanian". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22 (3): 32A.
^Cite error: The named reference R&C07 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Germain, D (2010). "The Moroccan diplocaulid: the last lepospondyl, the single one on Gondwana". Historical Biology. 122 (1–3): 4–39. doi:10.1080/08912961003779678. S2CID 128605530.
^Carroll, R. L. (1988) Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution, WH Freeman & Co.
^Vallin, G; Laurin, M (2004). "Cranial morphology and affinities of Microbrachis, and a reappraisal of the phylogeny and lifestyle of the first amphibians". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24: 56–72. doi:10.1671/5.1. S2CID 26700362.
^Marjanović, D.; Laurin, M. (2009). "The origin(s) of modern amphibians: a commentary" (PDF). Evolutionary Biology. 36 (3): 336–338. doi:10.1007/s11692-009-9065-8. S2CID 12023942.
^Marjanović, D; Laurin, M (2013). "The origin(s) of extant amphibians: a review with emphasis on the "lepospondyl hypothesis"". Geodiversitas. 35: 207–272. doi:10.5252/g2013n1a8. S2CID 67823991.
^Cite error: The named reference RCQ03 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Jason D. Pardo, Matt Szostakiwskyj, Per E. Ahlberg & Jason S. Anderson (2017) Hidden morphological diversity among early tetrapods. Nature (advance online publication) doi:10.1038/nature22966>
Lepospondyli is a diverse taxon of early tetrapods. With the exception of one late-surviving lepospondyl from the Late Permian of Morocco (Diplocaulus...
Lepospondyli as close relatives or even derived from reptile-like amphibians. One problem with this position is the question of whether Lepospondyli actually...
Testudinata. Michael Benton (2000, 2004) made it the sister-clade to Lepospondyli, containing "anthracosaurs" (in the strict sense, i.e. Embolomeri), seymouriamorphs...
they include the extinct Temnospondyli; some show that they include the Lepospondyli instead. The name traditionally indicated a more limited group. The first...
was divided into three subclasses, two of which are extinct: Subclass Lepospondyli† (A potentially polyphyletic Late Paleozoic group of small forms, likely...
excludes all the main groups of Paleozoic tetrapods, such as Temnospondyli, Lepospondyli, Embolomeri, and Seymouriamorpha. Most scientists have concluded that...
tetrapods") were the predominant tetrapods, and included the Temnospondyli, Lepospondyli, and Anthracosauria. The first amniotes appeared during the middle Carboniferous...
Dolichopareias. Adelospondyls are traditionally placed within the group Lepospondyli due to their fused vertebrae (although Acherontiscus is an exception...
place modern amphibians far from Gerobatrachus within a group called Lepospondyli. The only known specimen of Gerobatrachus is a nearly complete skeleton...
accompanied by an assemblage of smaller amphibians included under the Lepospondyli, often only about 15 cm (6 in) long. Some Carboniferous amphibians were...
recumbirostrans have traditionally been considered to be members of the subclass Lepospondyli; however, many phylogenetic analyses conducted since the 2010s have recovered...
time, amphibians remained common, including various Temnospondyli and Lepospondyli. Synapsids became the dominant type of animal, represented by the Pelycosaurs...
trunk: Maximal inclusion of taxa with missing data in an analysis of the Lepospondyli (Vertebrata, Tetrapoda)". Systematic Biology. 50 (2): 170–193. doi:10...
European Russia (Northern Dvina) Permian stem-amniotes consisted of lepospondyli and batrachosaurs, according to some phylogenies; according to others...
that Lissamphibia is monophyletic and that it should be nested within Lepospondyli rather than within Temnospondyli. The study postulated that Lissamphibia...
analyses usually place the genus as the earliest diverging member of Lepospondyli, a collection of unusual tetrapods which may be close to amniotes or...
J.; Anderson, J. S. (2013). "Cranial morphology of recumbirostrans (Lepospondyli) from the Permian of Kansas and Nebraska, and early morphological evolution...
"The Functional Significance of Nectridean Tabular Horns (Amphibia: Lepospondyli)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 209 (1177):...
Small and J. S. Anderson (2013). "Cranial morphology of recumbirostrans (Lepospondyli) from the Permian of Kansas and Nebraska, and early morphological evolution...
the past. They have traditionally been seen as members of the subclass Lepospondyli, related to other unusual early tetrapods such as "microsaurs", "nectrideans"...
Morphology of the Carboniferous-Permian Tetrapod Brachydectes newberryi (Lepospondyli, Lysorophia): New Data from µCT". PLOS ONE. 11 (8): e0161823. doi:10...
stegocephalians among three taxa: Lepospondyli, Temnospondyli and Stereospondyli. He placed microsaurs in Lepospondyli, a group which he characterized as...
reproduction. Many studies conducted since the 1990s have also placed the group Lepospondyli as closer to amniotes than embolomeres were. Lepospondyls are a particularly...
J., Anderson, J. S. (2013). "Cranial morphology of recumbirostrans (Lepospondyli) from the Permian of Kansas and Nebraska, and early morphological evolution...
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