Laccosaurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of temnospondyls}} {{Automatic taxobox | taxon = Laccosaurus | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Lopingian|Lopingian|[[Lopingian]]}} | authority = [[Sidney H. Haughton|Haughton]], [[1925 in paleontology|1925]] | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Laccosaurus watsoni''''' | type_species_authority = Haughton, 1925 }}

'''''Laccosaurus''''' is an extinct [[monotypic]] [[genus]] of [[Rhinesuchidae|rhinesuchid]] [[temnospondyl]], the [[type species]] being '''''Laccosaurus watsoni'''''.

== History of study == ''Laccosaurus'' ''watsoni'' was named by paleontologist [[Sidney H. Haughton]] in 1925 on the basis of a largely complete skull from the ''Dicynodon-Theriognathus'' subzone of the [[Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone|''Daptocephalus'' Assemblage Zone]] in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haughton |first=Sidney H. |date=1925 |title=Investigations in South African Fossil Reptiles and Amphibia. Part 13. Descriptive Catalogue of the Amphibia of the Karroo System |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/74686 |journal=Annals of the South African Museum. Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. |volume=22 |pages=227–261 |issn=0303-2515}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Marsicano |first1=Claudia A. |last2=Latimer |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Rubidge |first3=Bruce |last4=Smith |first4=Roger M.H. |date=2017-05-29 |title=The Rhinesuchidae and early history of the Stereospondyli (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) at the end of the Palaeozoic |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlw032 |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlw032 |issn=0024-4082|hdl=11336/105150 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Viglietti |first=P.A. |date=2020-06-01 |title=Biostratigraphy of the Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gssa/sajg/article/123/2/191/587461/Biostratigraphy-of-the-Daptocephalus-Assemblage |journal=South African Journal of Geology |language=en |volume=123 |issue=2 |pages=191–206 |doi=10.25131/sajg.123.0014 |issn=1996-8590|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This genus and/or species has sometimes been synonymized with ''[[Uranocentrodon]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherwood |first=Romer, Alfred |title=Review of the labyrinthodontia |date=1947 |oclc=253748351}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ochev |first=Vitaliĭ G. |title=Systematics and phylogeny of capitosauroid labyrinthodonts |publisher=Saratov State University Press |year=1966 |location=Saratov |pages=1–181 |language=Russian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schoch |first1=Rainer R. |title=Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie Part 3B. Stereospondyli |last2=Milner |first2=Andrew R. |date=2000 |publisher=Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil |isbn=978-3-931516-26-0 |location=Stuttgart |pages=1–106 |oclc=580976}}</ref> but this framework has not been adopted by recent workers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Damiani |first=Ross J. |date=2004 |title=Temnospondyls from the Beaufort Group (Karoo Basin) of South Africa and Their Biostratigraphy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1342-937x(05)70315-4 |journal=Gondwana Research |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=165–173 |doi=10.1016/s1342-937x(05)70315-4 |issn=1342-937X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Eltink |first1=Estevan |last2=Schoch |first2=Rainer R. |last3=Langer |first3=Max C. |date=2019-04-16 |title=Interrelationships, palaeobiogeography and early evolution of Stereospondylomorpha (Tetrapoda: Temnospondyli) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41513-019-00105-z |journal=Journal of Iberian Geology |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=251–267 |doi=10.1007/s41513-019-00105-z |issn=1698-6180|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, there is uncertainty related to the single referred specimen (BPI/1/4473); Eltink et al. (2019) consider this to belong to a different taxon, while Marsicano et al. (2017) considered it to belong to ''L. watsoni''.

== Anatomy == Marsicano et al. (2017) were the most recent to diagnose this taxon and list the following unique combination of characters: "well-developed sensory sulci, infra-orbital sulcus with a step/S- like flexure between the orbit and the naris; width of interpterygoid vacuity pair greater than 90% of their length; vomers with field of denticles in symmetrical raised patches medially to the choanae; straight transverse vomerine tooth row; quadrate condyles projected behind the tip of the tabular horns; parasphenoid plate subrectangular, longer than wide, with a flat ventral surface; well-developed ‘pockets’, close to each other, thus the cristae musculares converge in the midline."

==References== {{Portal|Paleontology}} <references />

[[Category:Stereospondyli]] [[Category:Permian amphibians of Africa]] [[Category:Monotypic prehistoric amphibian genera]] [[Category:Taxa named by Sidney H. Haughton]] [[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1925]]