Misplaced Pages

Micromelerpetontidae
Fossil of Micromelerpeton credneri in the Museum of Man and Nature, Munich
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Order:	†Temnospondyli
Superfamily:	†Dissorophoidea
Family:	†Micromelerpetontidae Boy, 1972
Genera
Branchierpeton Eimerisaurus Limnogyrinus Micromelerpeton Nyranerpeton

Micromelerpetontidae (also spelled Micromelerpetidae) is an extinct family of dissorophoid temnospondyls that lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian in what is now Europe, with one Carboniferous species also known from North Africa. They were biologically similar to the related branchiosaurids, but proportionally akin to the unrelated microsaurs.

Micromelerpetontids were neotenic and aquatic, similar to their relatives the branchiosaurids. They had lateral line grooves, poorly ossified skulls and limbs, and evidence of external gills. However, they had a higher number of vertebrae (and therefore more elongated bodies) compared to branchiosaurids, as well as thick, bony scales covering the belly and limbs. Some members of the family had skulls which were longer behind the eyes (rather than in front of them), while the opposite was true of branchiosaurids.

References

1. ^ Schoch, Rainer R.; Milner, Andrew R. (2014). Handbook of Paleoherpetology. Part 3A2. Temnospondyli I. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil. pp. 43–45. ISBN 978-3-89937-170-3.
2. Ralf Werneburg; Joerg W. Schneider; Sebastian Voigt; Abouchouaib Belahmira (2019). "First African record of micromelerpetid amphibians (Temnospondyli, Dissorophoidea)". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 159: Article 103573. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103573.
3. Schoch, Rainer R.; Witzmann, Florian (September 2018). "Morphology of the Late Carboniferous temnospondyl Limnogyrinus elegans, and the evolutionary history of the Micromelerpetidae". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 289 (3): 293–310. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2018/0762.

• Milner, A. R. & Sequeira, S. E. K. (2003) Revision of the amphibian genus Limnerpeton (Temnospondyli) from the Upper Carboniferous of the Czech Republic. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica: Vol. 48, #1, pp. 123–141
• Witzmann, F. & Pfretzschner, H. U. (2003) Larval ontology of Micromelerpeton credneri (Temnospondyli, Dissorophoidea). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 23, #4, pp. 750–768

v t e Dissorophoidea
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Clade: Tetrapodomorpha Order: Temnospondyli Tetrapodomorpha see Tetrapodomorpha Temnospondyli see Temnospondyli Dissorophoidea see below↓ Dissorophoidea
Dissorophoidea Stegops Micromelerpetontidae Branchierpeton Eimerisaurus Limnogyrinus Micromelerpeton Nyranerpeton Olsoniformes Palodromeus Trematopidae Acheloma Actiobates Anconastes Ecolsonia Fedexia Mattauschia Mordex Phonerpeton Rotaryus Tambachia Dissorophidae Anakamacops Arkanserpeton Aspidosaurus Astreptorhachis Iratusaurus Nooxobeia Platyhystrix Dissorophinae Broiliellus Diploseira? Dissorophus Eucacopinae Brevidorsum Cacops Conjunctio Kamacops Parioxys? Reiszerpeton Scapanops Zygosaurus Amphibamiformes Eoscopus Georgenthalia Gerobatrachus Kermitops Limnerpeton Nanobamus Platyrhinops Plemmyradytes Rubeostratilia Micropholidae Micropholis Pasawioops Tersomius Amphibamidae sensu stricto Amphibamus Doleserpeton Branchiosauridae Apateon Branchiosaurus Leptorophus Melanerpeton Milnererpeton Piasimotriton Schoenfelderpeton Tungussogyrinus Xerodromeus Lissamphibia? see Lissamphibia
Category

This article related to a Carboniferous animal is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This article related to a Permian animal is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Temnospondyli-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Dissorophoids
• Temnospondyl families
• Carboniferous temnospondyls
• Permian temnospondyls
• Pennsylvanian first appearances
• Cisuralian extinctions
• Carboniferous animal stubs
• Permian animal stubs
• Temnospondyli stubs