BIO356H5 Study Guide - Final Guide: Otic Notch, Bony Labyrinth, 5 Fingers
Document Summary
Anthracosauria and diadectomorpha (closest sister taxa to amniotes) Anthracosaurs- as name implies, they are cold reptiles; intitially thought of as being reptilian-like based on general appearance but they are amphibians. They are a fairly diverse assemblage of amphibians. Maybe they are paraphyletic because some members of anthracosaurs are more closely related to amniotes than other anthracosaurs. The group is not a natural assemblage so from a phylogenetic point of view, the word anthracosaurs doesn"t mean anything. It"s just a generic term that has remained in usage but as far as what a real anthracosaur is, we don"t have one. There are no synapomorphies to diagnose the group specifically. There are synapomorphies that diagnose members w/in the group; but we just continue to group them as a general assemblage of amphibians that are reptile-like, but may not necessarily share a lot in common other than being reptile-like.
