Capitosauria is a clade of stereospondyl temnospondyls. Capitosauria and its sister taxon Trematosauria

Trematosauria

Trematosauria is one of two major groups of temnospondyl amphibians that survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the other being the Capitosauria. The trematosaurs were a diverse and important group that included many medium-sized to large forms that were semi-aquatic to totally aquatic...

 are the only major temnospondyl clades that existed during the Mesozoic

Mesozoic

The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...

.

Capitosauria was first named by Schoch and Milner (2000) and further described by Yates and Warren (2000), who assigned Lydekkerina

Lydekkerina

Lydekkerina is an extinct genus of stereospondyl temnospondyl. It is the type genus of the family Lydekkerinidae. Fossils have been collected from Early Triassic deposits in South Africa and Australia. The type species is L. huxleyi, first described in 1889...

and Mastodonsauroidea

Mastodonsauroidea

The Mastodonsauroidea are an extinct superfamily of temnospondyl amphibians known from the Triassic and Jurassic. Fossils belonging to this superfamily have been found in North America, Greenland, Europe, Asia, and Australia...

 to it. It was described by Damiani (2001) under the name Mastodonsauroidea. In their phylogenetic analysis of temnospondyls, Ruta et al. (2007) placed Lydekkerina and its relatives within the clade Rhytidostea

Rhytidostea

Rhytidostea is a clade of stereospondyl temnospondyls. It was erected in 2000 to include several temnospondyl groups distinct from the "higher" group of capitosaurs, including lydekkerinids, brachyopoids, and rhytidosteids. Rhytidosteans first appeared in the Permian period and underwent an...

, while placing only mastodonsauroid taxa within Capitosauria.

External links

• Capitosauria in the Paleobiology Database
  Paleobiology Database
  ' is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms.-History:The Paleobiology Database was founded in 2000. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council...
  
  
• Cladogram of Mastodonsauroidea (=Capitosauria) at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
  Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
  Mikko's Phylogeny Archive is an amateur paleontology website maintained by Mikko Haaramo, a student at the University of Helsinki's Department of Geology, Division of Geology and Palaeontology....