Euskelia Explained

Euskelia is a proposed clade of extinct temnospondyl amphibians. The naming derives from the ancient Greek eu, meaning "true", and skelos, meaning "limb", in reference to well-ossified limb bones with crests to which muscles were attached. Members of this group have the most ossified skeleton of all temnospondyls.[1]

Euskelia is a stem-based taxon including all temnospondyls more closely related to Eryops (an eryopoid) than to Parotosuchus (a stereospondyl). The clade was named by Yates & Warren (2000), whose phylogenetic analysis argued that eryopoids were more closely related to dissorophoids than to stereospondyls. Euskelia was intended to encompass the terrestrial eryopoid+dissorophoid clade, opposite to the clade Limnarchia, which included aquatic groups such as dvinosaurs and stereospondylomorphs.[2]

Other studies propose a different structure of the temnospondyl family tree. For example, Schoch (2013) considered eryopoids to be closer to stereospondylomorphs than to dissorophoids. That study offered the name Eryopiformes for the eryopoid+stereospondylomorph clade, excluding dissorophoids.[3]

Notes and References

  1. https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/3c123e1e-4b38-4819-a674-179b04539029/content Immaturity vs paedomorphism: a rhinesuchid stereospondyl postcranium from the Upper Permian of South Africa
  2. Yates . A. M. . Warren, A. A. . 2000 . The phylogeny of the 'higher' temnospondyls (Vertebrata: Choanata) and its implications for the monophyly and origins of the Stereospondyli. . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 128 . 77–121 . 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2000.tb00650.x. free .
  3. Schoch . R. R. . 2013 . The evolution of major temnospondyl clades: An inclusive phylogenetic analysis . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 11 . 673–705 . 10.1080/14772019.2012.699006.