Amphibamidae

Amphibamidae Temporal range: Late Carboniferous–Early Triassic, 307–248 Ma Possible descendant taxon Lissamphibia survives to present. PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Amphibamus grandiceps
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Temnospondyli
Superfamily:	†Dissorophoidea
Family:	†Amphibamidae Moodie, 1916
Subgroups
See text.
Synonyms
Doleserpetontidae Bolt, 1969

Amphibamidae is an extinct family of dissorophoid euskelian temnospondyls. The earliest amphibamids, such as Amphibamus, are known from Late Carboniferous strata in the United States^[1] and the Czech Republic,^[2] while the last known amphibamid, Micropholis, is known from the Early Triassic Karoo Basin of South Africa. According to some phylogenetic studies, modern amphibians, including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians, may have descended from a common ancestor that was an amphibamid.

Classification

Cladogram from Schoch and Rubidge (2005):^[3]

Amphibamidae	Micropholis Eoscopus Platyrhinops Doleserpeton Amphibamus

Cladogram from Huttenlocker et al. (2007):^[4]

Amphibamidae	Platyrhinops Amphibamus Doleserpeton Eoscopus "Tersomius" mosesi "Tersomius" sp. Plemmyradytes Micropholis

Eoscopus lockardi

Micropholis stowi

Cladogram from Fröbisch and Reisz (2008):^[5]

Amphibamidae	Georgenthalia Eoscopus Plemmyradytes Platyrhinops Doleserpeton Gerobatrachus Amphibamus Tersomius Micropholis Pasawioops

Cladogram from Schoch (2009):^[6]

Amphibamidae	Tersomius Pasawioops Micropholis Plemmyradytes Eoscopus Georgenthalia Platyrhinops Doleserpeton Amphibamus Gerobatrachus

Relationship to Batrachia

Amphibamidae contains the genus Gerobatrachus, which has been interpreted as the sister taxon of Batrachia, the modern amphibians.^[7] Below is a modified cladogram from Anderson et al. (2008) showing Batrachia nested in Amphibamidae, with Gerobatrachus as the sister taxon of Batrachia:^[7]

Amphibamidae	Tersomius Micropholis Eoscopus Platyrhinops Amphibamus Doleserpeton Gerobatrachus  Batrachia  Anura Triadobatrachus Caudata Albanerpetontidae

The cladistic analysis of Anderson et al. (2008) supported the "polyphyly hypothesis" of modern amphibian ancestry, whereby some extant amphibian groups are descendants of temnospondyls while others are descendants of lepospondyls, another large group of Paleozoic amphibians.^[8] Caecilians were nested within Lepospondyli, making Lissamphibia polyphyletic.

References

1. Clack, Jennifer A. (27 June 2012). Gaining Ground, Second Edition: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods. Indiana University Press. pp. 346–8. ISBN 0-253-00537-X. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
2. Andrew R. Milner and Sandra E.K. Sequeira (2003). "Revision of the amphibian genus Limnerpeton (Temnospondyli) from the Upper Carboniferous of the Czech Republic". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 48 (1): 123–141.
3. Schoch, R.R.; Rubidge, B.S. (2005). "The amphibamid Micropholis from the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25 (3): 502–522. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0502:TAMFTL]2.0.CO;2.
4. Huttenlocker, A.K.; Pardo, J.D.; Small, B.J. (2007). "Plemmyradytes shintoni, gen. et. sp. nov., an Early Permian Amphibamid (Temnospondyli:Dissorophoidea) from the Eskridge Formation, Nebraska". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (2): 316–328. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[316:PSGESN]2.0.CO;2.
5. Fröbisch, N.B.; Reisz, R.R. (2008). "A new Lower Permian amphibamid (Dissorophoidea, Temnospondyli) from the fissure fill deposits near Richards Spur, Oklahoma". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28 (4): 1015–1030. doi:10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1015.
6. Frobisch, N. B.; Schoch, R. R. (2009). "Testing the Impact of Miniaturization on Phylogeny: Paleozoic Dissorophoid Amphibians". Systematic Biology 58 (3): 312–327. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syp029. ISSN 1063-5157.
7. Anderson, J.S.; Reisz, R.R.; Scott, D.; Fröbisch, N.B.; Sumida, S.S. (2008). "A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders" (PDF). Nature 453 (7194): 515–518. doi:10.1038/nature06865. PMID 18497824.
8. Marjanović, D.; Laurin, M. (2009). "A closer look at published data matrices reveals support for the "lepospondyl hypothesis" on the origin of Lissamphibia" (PDF). Abstracts from the 7th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists: 45.

External links

• Amphibamidae in the Paleobiology Database