Brachyopomorpha

{{Short description|Extinct clade of amphibians}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = [[Early Triassic]] - [[Middle Cretaceous]], {{fossil range|252.3|120}} | image = Pelorocephalus1DB.jpg | image_caption = ''[[Pelorocephalus|Pelorocephalus tenax]]'' | taxon = Brachyopomorpha | authority = Warren and Marsicano, 2000 | subdivision_ranks = Genera and superfamilies | subdivision = * {{extinct}}''[[Bothriceps]]'' * {{extinct}}''[[Keratobrachyops]]'' * {{extinct}}[[Brachyopoidea]] }}

'''Brachyopomorpha''' is a [[clade]] of [[stereospondyl]] [[temnospondyl]]s within the [[infraorder]] [[Trematosauria]]. It was constructed in 2000 to include ''[[Bothriceps|Bothriceps australis]]'' and the [[superfamily (zoology)|superfamily]] [[Brachyopoidea]].<ref name=WM00>{{cite journal |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0462:APOTBT]2.0.CO;2 |last=Warren |first=A. |author2=Marsicano, C. |year=2000 |title=A phylogeny of the Brachyopoidea |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=462–483|hdl=11336/93649 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> It is [[phylogenetics|phylogenetically]] defined as a [[PhyloCode|stem-based]] taxon including ''[[Pelorocephalus]]'' and all taxa closer to it than to ''[[Rhytidosteus]]''. In contrast, Brachyopoidea is defined as a [[PhyloCode|node-based]] taxon including ''[[Brachyops]]'' and ''Pelorocephalus'' and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor. Because ''Bothriceps'' is not thought to be a descendant of that recent common ancestor and would be more [[basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] than it, the genus is placed just outside Brachyopoidea and is considered to be a [[sister taxon]] to the clade.<ref name=WM00/><ref name=YW00>{{cite journal |last=Yates |first=A. M. |author2=Warren, A. A. |year=2000 |title=The phylogeny of the "higher temnospondyls" (Vertebrata, Choanata) |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=128 |pages=77–121 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2000.tb00650.x|doi-access=free }}</ref>

{{Cladogram|title=[[Cladistics#Cladograms|Cladogram]] of Brachyopomorpha |caption='''Damiani and Kitching, 2003'''<ref name=DK03>{{cite journal |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[67:ANBTFT]2.0.CO;2 |last=Damiani |first=R. J. |author2=Kitching, 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}}</ref> |clades={{clade| style=font-size:80%;line-height:80% |label1=Brachyopomorpha |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''[[Bothriceps]]'' |2=''[[Keratobrachyops]]''}} |label2=[[Brachyopoidea]] |2={{clade |1=[[Brachyopidae]] |2=[[Chigutisauridae]] }} }} }} }}

''Bothriceps'' was once considered to be a [[Brachyopidae|brachyopid]] within Brachyopoidea, but is now placed on the brachyopoid stem closer to Brachyopoidea than to [[Rhytidosteidae]] due to the presence of several [[plesiomorphies]] (ancestral characters). The probable presence of a tabular horn in ''Bothriceps'' also suggests that it is a basal brachyopomorph rather than a brachyopid.<ref name=WM00/>

''[[Keratobrachyops]]'', once assigned to [[Chigutisauridae]], is now thought to be a basal brachyopomorph closely related to ''Bothriceps''.<ref name=DK03/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links==

[[Category:Trematosauria]] [[Category:Triassic temnospondyls]] [[Category:Jurassic temnospondyls]] [[Category:Cretaceous temnospondyls]] [[Category:Early Triassic first appearances]] [[Category:Cretaceous extinctions]]