Sclerocephalus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian that lived in the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian in what is now Germany and Czech Republic. It’s one of the very important tetrapods because it is very well preserved.
Description[]
Adults reached up to 150 centimeters. It’s also been shown that this animal was aquatic. It went through massive changes during its ontogeny, as shown from of its skull having a set of teeth in the upper and lower jaw. Fossil evidence has also suggested that it fed on the fish Paramblypterus as well as other amphibians.
Discovery and Naming[]
In 1847, paleontologist Georg August Goldfuss described the holotype after mistaking it for a fish. In 1939, Alfred Romer saw that the fossil amphibians under the genus Leptorophus levis were in fact juveniles of Sclerocephalus. One location where many well preserved specimens of Sclerocephalus is the Odernheim am Glan in Germany.
Classification[]
Because the holotype specimen is lost. Sclerocephalus’s validity has been questioned. It is the type genus of the family Sclerocephalidae.
Sclerocephalus was originally thought to be related to Onchiodon and was therefore placed in the Actinodontidae. Which was thought to be related to be Eryopidae. However Sclerocephalus has some similarities to the Stereospondylomorpha; it was then removed and is now placed beside Archegosaurus as a basal stereospondylomorph.