Temnospondyl families

Archegosauridae is a family of relatively large and long snouted temnospondyls that lived in the Permian period. They were fully aquatic animals, and were metabolically and physiologically more similar to fish than modern amphibians. The family has been divided into two subfamilies, the longer-snouted Platyoposaurinae and the shorter-snouted Melosaurinae.

Rhinesuchidae is a family of tetrapods that lived primarily in the Permian period. They belonged to the broad group Temnospondyli, a successful and diverse collection of semiaquatic tetrapods which modern amphibians are probably descended from. Rhinesuchids can be differentiated from other temnospondyls by details of their skulls, most notably the interior structure of their otic notches at the back of the skull. They were among the earliest-diverging members of the Stereospondyli, a subgroup of temnospondyls with flat heads and aquatic habits. Although more advanced stereospondyls evolved to

Eryopidae are an extinct family of medium to large sized amphibious temnospondyls that lived from the latest Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) to the early Permian period and inhabited North America and Europe. They were apex predators in the stream and lake habitats they inhabited. Their life cycle (exemplified by Onchiodon) consist of a small larvae that grows into a heavily ossified adult. This group are unusual in their variability in their morphology and development.

Plagiosauridae is a clade of temnospondyls of the Early to Late Triassic. Deposits of the group are most commonly found in non-marine aquatic depositional environments from central Europe and Greenland, but other remains have been found in Russia, Scandinavia, Australia and possibly Thailand.

Dissorophidae is an extinct family of medium-sized temnospondyls that flourished during the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods. The clade is known almost exclusively from North America.

Trematopidae is a family of dissorophoid temnospondyls spanning the late Carboniferous to the early Permian. Together with Dissorophidae, the family forms Olsoniformes, a clade comprising the medium-large terrestrial dissorophoids. Trematopids are known from numerous localities in North America, primarily in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and from the Bromacker quarry in Germany.

Brachyopidae is an extinct family of temnospondyls. They evolved in the early Mesozoic and were mostly aquatic. A fragmentary find from Lesotho, Africa is estimated to have been long, the largest amphibian ever known to have lived besides Prionosuchus and Mastodonsaurus. Brachyopids were the only group of temnospondyls to survive into the Jurassic aside from their sister family Chigutisauridae; there are records of brachyopids from the Jurassic of Asia.

Dendrerpetontidae is a family of basal temnospondyls that lived during the Carboniferous period.

Metoposauridae is an extinct family of trematosaurian temnospondyls. The family is known from the Late Triassic period. Most members are large, approximately long and could reach 3 m long. Metoposaurids can be distinguished from most other stereospondyls by the position of their eyes, placed far forward on the snout (the type genus, Metoposaurus, means 'front lizard').

Rhytidosteidae is a family of Temnospondyli that lived in the Permian and Triassic.

Zatracheidae (sometimes mistakenly spelled Zatrachydidae or Zatrachysdidae) is a family of Late Carboniferous and Early Permian temnospondyls known from North America and Europe. Zatracheidids are distinguished by lateral (sideways) bony protuberances of the quadratojugal bone of the skull, and a large opening in the snout called the internarial fontanelle (sometimes the internarial fenestra) that is bordered by enlarged premaxillae. The skull is flattened, with small orbits or eye sockets set far back. The opening in the snout may have housed a gland for producing a sticky substance so that p

Trematosauridae is a family of large marine temnospondyls with several included genera. thumb|left|Life restoration of Trematosaurus

The Amphibamidae are an ancient family of dissorophoid temnospondyls known from Late Carboniferous-Early Permian strata in the United States.

right|thumb|Arenaerpeton|Arenaerpeton supinatus (specimen AM F125866) from the [[Sydney Basin]]

Lapillopsidae is an extinct family of temnospondyls.

Lydekkerinidae is a family of stereospondyl temnospondyls that lived in the Early Triassic period. During this time period, lydekkerinids were widely distributed, with putative remains reported from Russia, Greenland, India, South Africa, Madagascar, Australia, and Antarctica. In contrast to most other stereospondyls, lydekkerinids were relatively small-bodied (most with skulls less than 10 cm in length). The type genus is Lydekkerina, the namesake of the family and the best-known lydekkerinid.

Branchiosauridae is an extinct family of small amphibamiform temnospondyls with external gills and an overall juvenile appearance. The family has been characterized by hundreds of well-preserved specimens from the Permo-Carboniferous of Middle Europe. Specimens represent well defined ontogenetic stages and thus the taxon has been described to display paedomorphy (perennibranchiate). However, more recent work has revealed branchiosaurid taxa that display metamorphosing trajectories. The name Branchiosauridae (“Branchio” in Ancient Greek denoting gills and “saurus” meaning lizard) refers to the

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.

Cochleosauridae is a family of edopoid temnospondyl amphibians, among the most basal of temnospondyls. Most members of this family are known from the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and early Permian (Cisuralian) of Europe and North America, though Nigerpeton is known from the Late Permian (Lopingian) of Niger in North Africa.

The Micropholidae are an extinct family of dissorophoid temnospondyls known from Late Carboniferous to Early Triassic strata in the United States and South Africa.