Temnospondyli

Temnospondyli is an extinct, diverse clade of early tetrapods that lived from the Carboniferous to the Cretaceous. Its members ranged from aquatic larvae and fishlike adults to large terrestrial predators.

Tetrapod: A vertebrate with four limbs or descended from ancestors with four limbs. Temnospondyli belongs to the early radiation of vertebrates adapting to life beyond water.
Metamorphosis: A developmental process in which an animal changes substantially in body form as it matures. Some temnospondyls transformed from aquatic larvae into adults with more terrestrial habits.
Eryops: A large Permian temnospondyl known from fossils in what is now the southwestern United States. Its robust limbs and broad skull exemplify a prominent terrestrial temnospondyl body plan.
Carboniferous: A geologic period from about 359 to 299 million years ago, marked by extensive coal-forming ecosystems. The earliest temnospondyl fossils appear during this period’s expansion of terrestrial vertebrate diversity.
Lissamphibian origins: The evolutionary history by which frogs, salamanders, and caecilians arose from earlier vertebrates. A leading hypothesis derives living amphibians from temnospondyl ancestors, though alternatives remain debated.
Early tetrapod: A tetrapod from the early evolutionary radiation of four-limbed vertebrates, including forms retaining aquatic traits. This broader grouping places temnospondyls among the first diverse land-vertebrate lineages.
Neoteny: The retention of juvenile traits in sexually mature individuals. Several temnospondyl lineages retained aquatic larval features into adulthood.
Mastodonsaurus: A giant Middle Triassic temnospondyl that lived in aquatic environments in Europe. Its immense skull illustrates the size reached by aquatic members of the clade.
Sclerocephalus: A genus of Permian temnospondyls known from fossils in Germany. Its well-preserved fossils document early temnospondyl anatomy and aquatic life.
Permian–Triassic extinction event: The largest known mass extinction, about 252 million years ago, at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods. Temnospondyls survived this crisis and diversified in the ecosystems that followed.

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