PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Eryops megacephalus

Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Eryopidae

Taxonomy

Eryops megacephalus was named by Cope (1877). Its type specimen is AMNH 4189, a skull, and it is a 3D body fossil. It is the type species of Eryops.

Sister species lacking formal opinion data

E. anatinus

Synonyms

Eryops willistoni was named by Moodie (1911). Its type specimen is KU 348, a partial skeleton (skull + postcrania), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is McCann Quarry, which is in a Leonardian fluvial-deltaic sandstone/sandstone in the Wellington Formation of Oklahoma.

It was synonymized subjectively with Eryops megacephalus by Olson (1967).
Clepsydrops gigas was named by Cope (1878) [often confused with Dimetrodon grandis (Case)]. Its type specimen is not AMNH 4006 (collected in 1879), as erroneously stated in Case (1907), but a specimen the whereabouts of which are unknown, a set of postcrania (pelvis), and it is a 3D body fossil. It is the type species of Luperosaurus.

It was recombined as Dimetrodon gigas by Cope (1878), Cope (1888), Hay (1902) and Hay (1930); it was recombined as Luperosaurus gigas by Romer (1936); it was synonymized subjectively with Eryops megacephalus by Romer and Price (1948) and Schoch and Milner (2014).
Anisodexis imbricarius was named by Cope (1882). It is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Coffee Creek, 34 (Arroyo Formation), which is in a Kungurian terrestrial claystone/sandstone in the Arroyo Formation of Texas. It is the type species of Anisodexis.

It was synonymized subjectively with Eryops megacephalus by Schoch and Milner (2014).
Rhachitomus valens was named by Cope (1878).

It was synonymized subjectively with Eryops megacephalus by Hay (1902).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1877	Eryops megacephalus Cope pp. 188-191
1878	Rhachitomus valens Cope
1878	Clepsydrops gigas Cope p. 27
1878	Dimetrodon gigas Cope p. 515
1882	Anisodexis imbricarius Cope p. 459
1884	Eryops megacephalus Cope p. 34
1884	Anisodexis imbricarius Cope p. 36
1888	Dimetrodon gigas Cope p. 287
1902	Eryops megacephalus Hay p. 421
1902	Anisodexis imbricarius Hay p. 423
1902	Dimetrodon gigas Hay p. 432
1911	Eryops willistoni Moodie
1930	Dimetrodon gigas Hay p. 55
1936	Luperosaurus gigas Romer p. 92
2013	Eryops megacephalus Schoch

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Tetrapoda
class	Amphibia
order	Temnospondyli	()
—	Eutemnospondyli
—	Rhachitomi	()
—	Eryopiformes
family	Eryopidae	Cope 1882
subfamily	Eryopinae
genus	Eryops
species	megacephalus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

†Eryops megacephalus Cope 1877

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Invalid names: Anisodexis imbricarius Cope 1882 [synonym], Clepsydrops gigas Cope 1878 [synonym], Eryops willistoni Moodie 1911 [synonym], Rhachitomus valens Cope 1878 [synonym]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

brackish, freshwater, terrestrialuc

Locomotion:

actively mobilesubo

Life habit:

amphibioussubo

Diet:

carnivoresubo

Dispersal:

waterc

Created:

2009-07-20 21:44:54

Modified:

2009-07-20 23:44:54

Source: subo = suborder, c = class, subp = subphylum, uc = unranked clade

References: Carroll 1988, Uhen 2004, Hendy et al. 2009

Age range: base of the Asselian to the top of the Leonardian or 298.90000 to 273.01000 Ma

Collections (23 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Asselian - Sakmarian	298.9 - 290.1	USA (Texas)	Eryops megacephalus (11165)
Wolfcampian	298.9 - 286.0	USA (Texas)	Eryops megacephalus (22635 79162 180978)
Permian	298.9 - 251.902	USA (Oklahoma)	Eryops megacephalus (221391 221392)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	USA (Oklahoma)	Eryops megacephalus (79402)
Artinskian	290.1 - 279.3	USA (Texas)	Eryops megacephalus (84716 108766)
Artinskian - Kungurian	290.1 - 272.3	USA (Oklahoma)	Dimetrodon gigas (85733)
Artinskian - Kungurian	290.1 - 272.3	USA (Texas)	Dimetrodon gigas (28253) Eryops megacephalus (85301)
Leonardian	286.0 - 273.01	USA (Oklahoma)	Eryops megacephalus (79815 85567 87054 180990 180991)
Kungurian	279.3 - 272.3	USA (Texas)	Anisodexis imbricarius (28256) Dimetrodon gigas (28267) Eryops megacephalus (67735 177000 177019 178738)