Brachyopomorpha
Brachyopomorpha is a clade of stereospondyl temnospondyls within the infraorder Trematosauria. It was constructed in 2000 to include Bothriceps australis and the superfamily Brachyopoidea.[1] It is phylogenetically defined as a stem-based taxon including Pelorocephalus and all taxa closer to it than to Rhytidosteus. In contrast, Brachyopoidea is defined as a node-based taxon including Brachyops and Pelorocephalus and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor. Because Bothriceps is not thought to be a descendant of that recent common ancestor and would be more basal than it, the genus is placed just outside Brachyopoidea and is considered to be a sister taxon to the clade.[1][2]
| Cladogram of Brachyopomorpha | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Damiani and Kitching, 2003[3] |
| Brachyopomorpha Temporal range: Early Triassic - Middle Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
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| Pelorocephalus tenax | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
| Clade: | †Trematosauria |
| Clade: | †Brachyopomorpha Warren and Marsicano, 2000 |
| Genera and superfamilies | |
Bothriceps was once considered to be a brachyopid within Brachyopoidea, but is now placed on the brachyopoid stem closer to Brachyopoidea than to Rhytidosteidae due to the presence of several plesiomorphies (ancestral characters). The probable presence of a tabular horn in Bothriceps also suggests that it is a basal brachyopomorph rather than a brachyopid.[1]
Keratobrachyops, once assigned to Chigutisauridae, is now thought to be a basal brachyopomorph closely related to Bothriceps.[3]
References
- Warren, A.; Marsicano, C. (2000). "A phylogeny of the Brachyopoidea". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20 (3): 462–483. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0462:APOTBT]2.0.CO;2. hdl:11336/93649.
- Yates, A. M.; Warren, A. A. (2000). "The phylogeny of the "higher temnospondyls" (Vertebrata, Choanata)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 128: 77–121. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2000.tb00650.x.
- Damiani, R. J.; Kitching, J. W. (2003). "A new brachyopid temnospondyl from the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone, Upper Beaufort Group, South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 23 (1): 67–78. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[67:ANBTFT]2.0.CO;2.
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