Bothriceps

{{Short description|Extinct genus of amphibians}} {{Automatic_taxobox | fossil_range = [[Early Triassic]] | image = Bothriceps skull.png | image_caption = Holotype skull of ''B. australis'' (NHMUK PV R 23110) | taxon = Bothriceps | authority = [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]], [[1859 in paleontology|1859]] | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Bothriceps australis''''' | type_species_authority = Huxley, 1859 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = }}

'''''Bothriceps''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of [[stereospondyl]] [[temnospondyl]]. It is a member of the infraorder [[Trematosauria]] and is the most [[basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] [[Brachyopomorpha|brachyopomorph]] known.<ref name=WM00>{{cite journal |last=Warren |first=A. |author2=Marsicano, C. |year=2000 |title=A phylogeny of the Brachyopoidea (Temnospondyli, Stereospondyli) |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=462–483 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0462:APOTBT]2.0.CO;2|hdl=11336/93649 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> It may be the only brachyopomorph that lies outside the superfamily [[Brachyopoidea]], which includes the [[Family (taxonomy)|families]] [[Brachyopidae]] and [[Chigutisauridae]]. It shares several similarities to ''[[Keratobrachyops]]'', another basal brachyopomorph, and may be closely related to or even synonymous with it.<ref name=WM00/><ref name=DK03>{{cite journal |last=Damiani |first=R. J. |author2=and Kitching|author3=J. W. |year=2003 |title=A new brachyopid temnospondyl from the ''Cynognathus'' Assemblage Zone, Upper Beaufort Group, South Africa |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=67–78 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[67:ANBTFT]2.0.CO;2}}</ref> [[File:Bothriceps australis.png|left|thumb|Life Restoration]] The genus was named in 1859 by [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] with the description of its [[type species]] ''B. australis'' from the [[Early Triassic]] Upper [[Parmeener Group]] of [[Tasmania]], [[Australia]].<ref name=HTH59>{{cite journal |last=Huxley |first=T. H. |year=1859 |title=On some amphibian and reptilian remains from South Africa and Australia |journal=Proceedings of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society |volume=15 |issue=1–2 |pages=642–649 |doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1859.015.01-02.71|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2179085/files/article.pdf }}</ref> It was originally assigned to the family Brachyopidae and was not reassigned to a more basal position until 2000, when the clade Brachyopomorpha was constructed to accommodate for it.<ref name=WM00/> The genus ''Bothriceps'' once included several species, but the only species assigned to it now is the type. ''Bothriceps major'', named in 1909, was reassigned to the family [[Rhytidosteidae]] as the type species the genus ''[[Trucheosaurus]]'' in 1998.<ref name=WAS09>{{cite journal |last=Woodward |first=A. S. |year=1909 |title=On a new labyrinthodont from Oil Shale at Airly |journal=Records of the Geological Survey of New South Wales |volume=8 |pages=317–319}}</ref><ref name=MW98>{{cite journal |last=Marsicano |first=C. A. |author2=and Warren|author3=A. A. |year=1998 |title=The first Paleozoic rhytidosteid record: ''Trucheosaurus major'' Watson 1956 from the Late Permian of Australia, and a reassessment of the Rhytidosteidae (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) |journal= Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology |volume=54 |pages=147–154}}</ref> The brachyopid ''[[Platycepsion|Platycepsion wilkinsoni]]'' (then referred to as ''Platyceps wilkinsoni'') was reassigned to ''Bothriceps'' in 1890 and in 1969, but was placed back within the original genus in 1973.<ref name=LR90>{{cite journal |last=Lydekker |first=R. |year=1890 |title=Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History) |journal=British Museum (Natural History) London |volume=4 |pages=1–295}}</ref><ref name=WE69>{{cite journal |last=Welles |first=S. P. |author2=Estes, R. |year=1969 |title=''Hadrokkosaurus bradyi'' from the Upper Moenkopi Formation of Arizona with a review of brachyopid Labyrinthodonts |journal=University of California Publications in Geological Sciences |volume=84 |pages=1–61}}</ref><ref name=SMA73>{{cite journal |last=Shishkin |first=M. A. |year=1973 |title=The morphology of the early Amphibia and some problems of the lower tetrapod evolution |journal=Trudy Paleontologicheskogo Instituta |volume=137 |pages=1–257}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Trematosauria]] [[Category:Induan life]] [[Category:Triassic temnospondyls of Australia]] [[Category:Paleontology in Queensland]] [[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1859]] [[Category:Taxa named by Thomas Henry Huxley]]