In Depth The name Mastodonsaurus means ‘breast tooth lizard’, and this came about from the observation of G. F. Jaegar who was describing a broken tooth. Later, when other teeth of Mastodonsaurus were found they were found to be no different from the teeth of most other temnospondyls. The signature features of Mastodonsaurus are the … Read more
In Depth A relative of amphibians such as Platyhystrix and Cacops, Zygosaurus was a cacopine temnospondyl that lived in Russia during the Permian. Further Reading – Uber die Saurier des kupferfhrenden Zechsteins Russlands. – Bulletin de la Societe National Moscou (in Russian). 21: 136–204. – Eduard Eichwals – 1848.
In Depth Tambachia is a genus of temnospondyl amphibian that live in what is now Germany during the Permian period. Specifically, Tambachia is a trematopod temnospondyl, and is also recorded as the first of its kind to be found outside of the USA. Further Reading - A New Trematopid Amphibian from the Lower Permian of … Read more
In Depth Tirraturhinus is a genus of trematosaurian temnospondyl amphibian that lived in what is now Australia during the earliest stage of the Triassic. Further Reading - A short-snouted trematosauroid (Tetrapoda, Temnospondyli) from the Early Triassic of Australia: the oldest known trematosaurine. - Alcheringa 30:263-271. - C. M. Nield, R. Damiani & A. Warren - … Read more
In Depth By the end of the Triassic, the temnospondyl amphibians had already been greatly reduced in number to what they were in the earlier Permian and Carboniferous. They were not all gone however, and some like Cyclotosaurus were without doubt flourishing. So far fossils of Cyclotosaurus have been found all the way from Greenland, … Read more
In Depth Eocyclotosaurus is a genus of amphibian predator that lived in both North America and the British Isles during the early Triassic. With a long snout and a mouth full of sharp teeth, Eocyclotosaurus would have hunted for fish and small amphibians in the water. Eocyclotosaurus directly translates as ‘dawn rounded eared lizard’, however … Read more
In Depth Colosteus is a genus of colosteid amphibian that lived in the USA during the Carboniferous. Further Reading - An Overview of the Upper Carboniferous Fossil Deposit at Linton, Ohio -. The Ohio Journal of Science 88 (1): 55–60. – Colosteus scutellatus (Newberry), a Primitive Temnospondyl Amphibian from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Linton, Ohio. … Read more
In Depth The genus Metoposaurus was originally named as Metopias by Christian von Meyer in 1842, but the name was replaced and changed to Metoposaurus by Richard Lydekker in 1890. Metoposaurus is the type species of the Metoposauridae, a group of temnospondyl amphibians that are particularly noted for having eyes that are placed further forward … Read more
In Depth Rastosuchus is a genus of temnospondyl amphibian known to have lived in South America during the late Permian. Further Reading - A new short-snouted rhinesuchid from the Permian of southern Brazil. - Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 23 (2): 98–122. - Eliseu Vieira Dias, S�rgio Dias-da-Silva & Cesar Leandro Schultz - 2020.
In Depth Kryostega is one of the growing number of temnospondyl amphibians that are now known from Antarctica. With a reconstructed body length estimated to be about four and a half meters long, Kryostega is so far one of the largest temnospondyl amphibians known to have lived in Antarctica during the Early Triassic, and a … Read more