Lissamphibians Temporal range: Early Triassic – Present (Possible Cisuralian record) |
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Emerald glass frog (Centrolene prosoblepon) | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Subclass: |
Lissamphibia Haeckel, 1866 |
Subgroups | |
The Lissamphibia are 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). A fourth group, the Allocaudata, was moderately successful, spanning 160 million years from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Pliocene, but became extinct 2.5 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. Some scientists have concluded that all of the primary groups of modern amphibians—frogs, salamanders and caecilians—are closely related, but others hold that frogs and salamanders evolved from temnospondyls, while caecilians evolved from lepospondyls, so Lissamphibia is paraphyletic with respect to other tetrapods.
Some writers have argued that the early Permian dissorophoid Gerobatrachus hottoni is a lissamphibian. If it is not, the earliest known lissamphibians are Triadobatrachus and Czatkobatrachus from the Early Triassic.