Diplocaulidae
Diplocaulidae Temporal range: Late Carboniferous - Late Permian
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A skeletal diagram of Diplocaulus | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Subclass: | †Lepospondyli |
Order: | †Nectridea |
Family: | †Diplocaulidae Cope, 1881 |
Subgroups | |
Synonyms | |
The Diplocaulidae ("double cauls") is an extinct family of lepospondyl amphibians that arose during the Late Carboniferous and died out in the Late Permian. [1] They are distinguished from other amphibians, extinct and extant, by the presence of strange, horn-like protrusions jutting out from the rear of their skulls; in some genera said protrusions gave their heads an almost boomerang-like outline.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Diploceraspis12DB.jpg/220px-Diploceraspis12DB.jpg)
Diploceraspis burkei
Phylogeny[]
Below is a cladogram modified from Germain (2010):[1]
Nectridea |
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References[]
- ^ a b Germain, D. (2010). "The Moroccan diplocaulid: the last lepospondyl, the single one on Gondwana". Historical Biology. 22 (1–3): 4–39. doi:10.1080/08912961003779678.
Categories:
- Diplocaulids
- Pennsylvanian first appearances
- Lopingian extinctions
- Prehistoric amphibian stubs