Brachyopidae Temporal range:
| |
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Batrachosuchus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Temnospondyli |
Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
Superfamily: | †Brachyopoidea |
Family: | †Brachyopidae Lydekker, 1885 |
Brachyopidae is an extinct family of temnospondyls.[1] They evolved in the early Mesozoic and were mostly aquatic. A fragmentary find from Lesotho, Africa is estimated to have been 7 metres (23 ft) long, the largest amphibian ever known to have lived besides Prionosuchus and Mastodonsaurus.[2] 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.