Trematosauroidea

Trematosauroidea are an important group of Triassic temnospondyl amphibians. They flourished briefly during the Early Triassic, occurring worldwide before declining at the start of the Middle Triassic, although the group continued until the Late Triassic. They were medium-sized temnospondyls with wedge-shaped tails, narrow skulls, and, in advanced forms, elongated snouts. The latter feature was probably an adaptation for feeding on fish. The largest and most specialized family, the Trematosauridae, are the only batrachomorphs to have adapted to a marine lifestyle with the exception of the modern crab-eating frog.

Trematosauroidea
Temporal range: Early Triassic - Middle Jurassic, 247–227 Ma
Trematosaurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: †Temnospondyli
Suborder: †Stereospondyli
Clade: †Trematosauria
Superfamily: †Trematosauroidea
Watson, 1919
Genera and families

A temnospondyl ilium was described in 2004 from the Callovian Toutunhe Formation in the Junggar Basin of China. Although the isolated bone was impossible to identify on the species level, it was referred to Trematosauroidea. The presence of this bone in the Toutunhe Formation extends the range of trematosauroids into the Middle Jurassic, making it one of only three groups of temnospondyls that survived the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event (the other two being the Brachyopoidea and possibly the Capitosauria).[1]

Classification

Below is a cladogram modified from Schoch (2011):[2]

Stereospondyli 
 

Uranocentrodon

 
 
 

Lydekkerina

 
 
 
 

Rhytidosteidae

 
 
Brachyopomorpha
 

Siderops

 
 

Batrachosuchus

 
 
Plagiosauroidea
 

Laidleria

 
 
 

Plagiosuchus

 
 

Gerrothorax

 
 
 
 
 
 

Capitosauria

 
Trematosauroidea
 

Lyrocephaliscus

 
 
 

Trematolestes

 
 
 
 

Inflectosaurus

 
 
 

Microposaurus

 
 

Jordan taxon

 
 
 
 
 

Almasaurus

 
 

Callistomordax

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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References
  1. Maisch, M.W.; Matzke, A.T.; Sun, G. (2004). "A relict trematosauroid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin (NW China)". Naturwissenschaften. 91 (12): 589–593. doi:10.1007/s00114-004-0569-x. PMID 15448923.
  2. Schoch, R.R. (2011). "A trematosauroid temnospondyl from the Middle Triassic of Jordan". The Fossil Record. 14 (2): 119–127. doi:10.1002/mmng.201100002.


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