Articles | Volume 24, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-295-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-295-2021
Research article
 | 
30 Sep 2021
Research article |  | 30 Sep 2021

The life cycle in late Paleozoic eryopid temnospondyls: developmental variation, plasticity and phylogeny

Rainer R. Schoch

Cited articles

Boy, J. A.: Die Branchiosaurier (Amphibia) des saarpfälzischen Rotliegenden (Perm, SW-Deutschland), Abh. Hess. L.-A. Bodenfor., 65, 1–137, 1972. 
Boy, J. A.: Die Larven der rhachitomen Amphibien (Amphibia: Temnospondyli; Karbon-Trias), Paläontol. Z., 48, 236–268, 1974. 
Boy, J. A.: Typen und Genese jungpaläozoischer Tetrapoden-Lagerstätten, Palaeontographica, 156, 111–167, 1977. 
Boy, J. A.: Über einige Vertreter der Eryopoidea (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). 1. Sclerocephalus, Paläontol. Z., 62, 429–457, 1988. 
Boy, J. A.: Uber einige Vertreter der Eryopoidea (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) aus dem europäischen Rotliegend (? höchstes Karbon–Perm). 2. Acanthostomatops, Paläontol. Z., 63, 133–151, 1989. 
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Short summary
Eryopids were 2 m large relatives of modern amphibians that formed top predators in the Paleozoic. They are found in aquatic deposits and apparently preyed on fishes. Their life cycle is preserved in a single species, Onchiodon labyrinthicus, from eastern Germany. It existed in a stressed ecosystem, and the broad variation in the studied sample correlates with seasonal fluctuations. Eryopids evolved into increasingly large, heavily built inhabitants of streams and seasonal water bodies.
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