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.[1] Members of this group have the most ossified skeleton of all temnospondyls.[2]
| Euskelia Temporal range: Pennsylvanian - Early Triassic,
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| Mounted skeleton of Eryops, American Museum of Natural History | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Euskelia Yates and Warren, 2000 |
| Superfamilies | |
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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.[1]
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]
References edit
- ^ a b 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. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2000.tb00650.x.
- ^ Immaturity vs paedomorphism: a rhinesuchid stereospondyl postcranium from the Upper Permian of South Africa
- ^ Schoch, R. R. (2013). "The evolution of major temnospondyl clades: An inclusive phylogenetic analysis". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 11: 673–705. doi:10.1080/14772019.2012.699006.
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