| Brachydectes Temporal range: Carboniferous
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|---|---|
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| Reconstructed skull of B. newberryi | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Microsauria |
| Family: | †Molgophidae |
| Genus: | †Brachydectes Cope, 1868 |
| Type species | |
| †Brachydectes newberryi Cope, 1868
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
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Brachydectes is an extinct genus of lysorophian tetrapods that lived from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian. It had a very small head and long body, B. elongatus had 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long skull (averagely 1.4 centimetres (0.55 in)) and pre-sacral length up to 150 centimetres (59 in) (averagely 45 centimetres (18 in)),[2][3] while B. newberryi, which have proportionally larger skull than B. elongatus, for specimen with 7.6 millimetres (0.30 in) skull roof had estimated total length of 11 centimetres (4.3 in), while the largest skull exceeds 3 centimetres (1.2 in).[1][3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Pardo, Jason D.; Anderson, Jason S. (2016-08-26). "Cranial Morphology of the Carboniferous-Permian Tetrapod Brachydectes newberryi (Lepospondyli, Lysorophia): New Data from µCT". PLOS ONE. 11 (8): e0161823. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161823. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5001628. PMID 27563722.
- ^ Laurin, Michel (2004-08-01). "The Evolution of Body Size, Cope's Rule and the Origin of Amniotes". Systematic Biology. 53 (4): 594–622. doi:10.1080/10635150490445706. ISSN 1076-836X. PMID 15371249.
- ^ a b Wellstead, Carl F. (1991). "Taxonomic revision of the Lysorophia, Permo-Carboniferous lepospondyl amphibians". Bulletin of the AMNH (209). hdl:2246/904.
- Gaining Ground: The Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods by Jennifer A. Clack
- Amniote Origins: Completing the Transition to Land by Stuart Sumida and Karen L.M Martin
