Lepospondyli

Common card · No. 425497

Lepospondyli is a grouping of five early tetrapod orders from the Carboniferous and Permian periods: the newt-like nectrideans, legless aistopods and adelospondyls, nearly-legless lysorophians, and burrowing or lizard-like microsaurs. These various tetrapod groups were historically distinguished from "labyrinthodonts" (another traditional grouping of Paleozoic tetrapods) by their smaller size, single-part vertebrae, lack of palatal fangs, and simpler tooth structure. Various species were aquatic, semiaquatic, or terrestrial. The most famous lepospondyl is Diplocaulus, a nectridean with a boomerang-shaped skull. It also qualifies as the largest, most widespread, and last surviving member of Lepospondyli. Many phylogenetic analyses regard Lepospondyli as a polyphyletic grouping, with no close relationships between its constituents as a whole. Aistopods and adelospondyls are often found to be stem-tetrapods (evolving prior to the common ancestor of modern amphibians and amniotes). Lyrosorphians...

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