Stereospondylomorpha
Encyclopedia
Stereospondylomorpha is a clade
of temnospondyl amphibians. It includes the superfamily Archegosauroidea
and the more diverse group Stereospondyli
.
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
of temnospondyl amphibians. It includes the superfamily Archegosauroidea
Archegosauroidea
Archegosauroidea is an extinct superfamily of Permian temnospondyls. The superfamily is assigned to the clade Stereospondylomorpha and is the sister taxon to the suborder Stereospondyli. It includes the families Actinodontidae and Archegosauridae, and possibly the genus Intasuchus, which is placed...
and the more diverse group Stereospondyli
Stereospondyli
The Stereospondyli are a group of extinct temnospondyl amphibians. Relative to other early tetrapods , they had simplified backbones, where the whole vertebra was made of a single intercentrum, topped by a neural arch. The whole vertebral structure was rather weak, meaning that most stereospondyls...
.