Lissamphibia

Lissamphibia
Temporal range: Early Triassic – Present (Possible Cisuralian record)
Emerald glass frog (Centrolene prosoblepon)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Subclass: Lissamphibia
Haeckel, 1866
Subgroups

The Lissamphibia (from Greek λισσός (lissós, "smooth") + ἀμφίβια (amphíbia), meaning "smooth amphibians") is a group of tetrapods that includes all modern amphibians. Lissamphibians consist of three living groups: the Salientia (frogs, toads, and their extinct relatives), the Caudata (salamanders, newts, and their extinct relatives), and the Gymnophiona (the limbless caecilians and their extinct relatives).

Salientians and caudatans are likely more closely related to each other than to caecilians. The name Batrachia is commonly used for the clade combining salientians and caudatans. A fourth group, the Allocaudata (also known as Albanerpetontidae) is also known, spanning 160 million years from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Pleistocene, but became extinct two million years ago.

For several decades, this name has been used for a group that includes all living amphibians, but excludes all the main groups of Paleozoic tetrapods, such as Temnospondyli, Lepospondyli, Embolomeri, and Seymouriamorpha.[1] Most scientists have concluded that all of the primary groups of modern amphibians—frogs, salamanders and caecilians—are closely related.

Some writers have argued that the early Permian dissorophoid Gerobatrachus hottoni is a lissamphibian.[2] If it is not,[3] the earliest known lissamphibians are Triadobatrachus and Czatkobatrachus from the Early Triassic.[4][5]

  1. ^ Laurin, M. (2010). How Vertebrates Left the Water. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26647-6.
  2. ^ Anderson, J.S.; Reisz, R.R.; Scott, D.; Fröbisch, N.B.; Sumida, S.S. (2008). "A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders" (PDF). Nature. 453 (7194): 515–518. Bibcode:2008Natur.453..515A. doi:10.1038/nature06865. PMID 18497824. S2CID 205212809. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
  3. ^ Marjanović, D.; Laurin, M. (2009). "The origin(s) of modern amphibians: a commentary" (PDF). Evolutionary Biology. 36 (3): 336–338. Bibcode:2009EvBio..36..336M. doi:10.1007/s11692-009-9065-8. S2CID 12023942.
  4. ^ Marjanović, D.; Laurin, M. (2007). "Fossils, molecules, divergence times, and the origin of lissamphibians". Systematic Biology. 56 (3): 369–388. doi:10.1080/10635150701397635. PMID 17520502.
  5. ^ Evans, S. E.; Borsuk-Białynicka, M. (2009). "The Early Triassic stem−frog Czatkobatrachus from Poland" (PDF). Palaeontologica Polonica. 65: 79–195.