Bryan M Gee

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

Metoposaurids are temnospondyl amphibians that are commonly recovered from the Chinle Formation deposits of North America. Two species, Koskinonodon perfectus and Apachesaurus gregorii , are known from Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO), AZ. Small, elongate intercentra are the single diagnostic postcranial characteristic of the smaller A. gregor...

Teeth are often thought of as structures that line the margins of the mouth; however, tooth-like structures called odontodes are commonly found on the dermal bones of many Palaeozoic vertebrates including early jawless fishes. 'Odontode' is a generalized term for all tooth-like dentine structures that have homologous tissues and development. This d...

Abstract Doleserpeton annectens is a small‐bodied early Permian amphibamiform, a clade of temnospondyl amphibians regarded by many workers to be on the lissamphibian stem. Most studies of this taxon have focused solely on its anatomy, but further exploration of other aspects of its paleobiology, such as developmental patterns, is critical for a bet...

Phylogenetic analyses and their resultant tree topologies underlie paleobiological studies. Regardless of the type of study, the relationships of focal taxa are foundational, whether implemented in a qualitative or a quantitative framework. This reliance places a premium on the continued refinement of both phylogenetic methods and inference. Temnos...

Living amphibians (Lissamphibia) include frogs and salamanders (Batrachia) and the limbless worm-like caecilians (Gymnophiona). The estimated Palaeozoic era gymnophionan–batrachian molecular divergence¹ suggests a major gap in the record of crown lissamphibians prior to their earliest fossil occurrences in the Triassic period2–6. Recent studies fin...

This preprint introduces and describes a living database, TEMNOS (Temnospondyl Evolution, Morphology, Nomenclature, and Other Stuff) comprised of individual curated datasets, that broadly encompasses data pertaining to temnospondyls, a diverse, globally distributed, and temporally long-ranging clade of non-amniotes (‘amphibians’ in a broad sense) t...

Data compilations expand the scope of research; however, data citation practice lags behind advances in data use. It remains uncommon for data users to credit data producers in professionally meaningful ways. In paleontology, databases like the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) enable assessment of patterns and processes spanning millions of years, up t...

Stereospondyls underwent a global radiation in the Early Triassic, including an abundance of small-bodied taxa, which are otherwise rare throughout the Mesozoic. Lapillopsidae is one such clade and is presently known only from Australia and India. This clade’s phylogenetic position, initially interpreted as micropholid dissorophoids and later as ea...

Metoposaurids are a clade of large-bodied temnospondyls commonly found in non-marine Late Triassic deposits across northern Pangea. Three taxa are known from North America: Anaschisma browni, Apachesaurus gregorii, and “Metoposaurus” bakeri. While the osteology of most metoposaurids has been recently revised, that of a few taxa, including “Metoposa...

The upper Fremouw Formation (Middle Triassic) of Antarctica preserves a diverse record of temnospondyls, with three species currently recognized. To date, all of the described material belongs to a single clade, Capitosauria. Our reanalysis suggests that cursory historical reports suggesting the presence of a benthosuchid (Trematosauria) are in err...

Temnospondyl amphibians are common in non-marine Triassic assemblages, including in the Fremouw Formation (Lower to Middle Triassic) of Antarctica. Temnospondyls were among the first tetrapods to be collected from Antarctica, but their record from the lower Fremouw Formation has long been tenuous. One taxon, ‘ Austrobrachyops jenseni ,’ is represen...

The phylogenetic relationships of most Paleozoic tetrapod clades remain poorly resolved, which is variably attributed to a lack of study, the limitations of inference from phenotypic data, and constant revision of best practices. While refinement of phylogenetic methods continues to be important, any phylogenetic analysis is inherently constrained...

The early Permian Richards Spur locality of Oklahoma has produced abundant material of numerous terrestrial fossil tetrapods, including various “microsaurs,” several of which are considered to belong to the clade Recumbirostra. We present a new partial skull of the recumbirostran “microsaur” Nannaroter mckinziei; through computed tomography (CT) an...

Metoposaurids are some of the most commonly occurring tetrapods in non-marine Upper Triassic sediments in the northern hemisphere of Pangea. Since the first description of a metoposaurid in 1842, nearly two dozen species have been named, but many of these have been regarded with increasing skepticism by modern workers because of minor differences u...

The fossil record of temnospondyl amphibians in the immediate wake of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction captures extensive taxic and ecological diversity, with most records known from high paleolatitudinal settings. In southern Pangea, the most substantial records come from South Africa and Australia, with a total of over 20 taxa presently recogni...

Metoposaurids are a widespread and ubiquitous constituent of Late Triassic non-marine paleoenvironments. In North America, this group is practically the only large-bodied temnospondyl clade, and is particularly well documented from the American southwest and south-central regions (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas). However, metoposaurids are poorly docum...

The dissorophid genus Conjunctio (Temnospondyli) is poorly characterized, known only from two incomplete specimens from the upper El Cobre Canyon Formation (lower Permian), Cutler Group, New Mexico, U.S.A. Nonetheless, the taxon’s conserved morphology and stratigraphic occurrence near the Carboniferous–Permian boundary (ca. 299 million years ago) m...

'Microsaurs' are traditionally considered to be lepospondyl non-amniotes, but recent analyses have recovered a subset of 'microsaurs', the fossorially adapted Recumbirostra, within Amniota. This novel conclusion highlights the need for additional work to evaluate these competing hypotheses with the aim of refining the phylogenetic position of 'micr...

Seymouria is the best known of the seymouriamorphs, a group of Permo-Carboniferous reptiliomorphs with both terrestrial and aquatic taxa. The majority of research on Seymouria has focused on cranial anatomy, with few detailed descriptions or illustrations of the postcrania. We utilized neutron computed tomography (nCT) and histological sampling to...

Recumbirostran ‘microsaurs’ are a clade of Palaeozoic tetrapods that possess numerous morphological adaptations for fossorial ecologies. Re‐study of many ‘microsaurs’ using tomographic methods has provided substantial new data on poorly known anatomy that informs their debated phylogenetic position. Recent studies have identified suites of features...

Trematopids are a clade of terrestrial Permo-Carboniferous temnospondyl amphibians. The intrarelationships of this clade are poorly known. This is largely attributable to a substantial disparity in size between type specimens, which range from the small-bodied lectotype of Mattauschia laticeps (< 4 cm skull length) to the large-bodied holotype of A...

Dissorophoids are a diverse clade of predominantly Permo‐Carboniferous temnospondyls with a wide geographic distribution and broad ecological diversity. Each of the various dissorophoid clades first appears in the late Carboniferous, but their records are relatively sparse and fragmentary compared to those of the early Permian when dissorophoids re...

Seymouriamorphs are a group of Permo-Carboniferous tetrapods with both terrestrial and aquatic members. Since their initial discovery, they have been proposed as phylogenetic intermediates on the amniote stem between temnospondyl amphibians and crown amniotes and are thus frequently used in phylogenetic analyses of both early amniotes and, more bro...

Varanopids are a basal clade of small- to medium-sized nontherapsid synapsids, whose range extends from the late Pennsylvanian to the late middle Permian, and are found in North America, Russia, Europe and South Africa. The greatest varanopid diversity is observed at the fossiliferous cave deposits near Richards Spur, Oklahoma, well known for the p...

Nanobamus macrorhinus Schoch and Milner, 2014 is a small amphibamiform temnospondyl from the early Permian Arroyo Formation of Texas. It is most readily characterized by an elongate and partially subdivided naris. This condition is superficially reminiscent of that seen in the coeval trematopids, the group to which N. macrorhinus was originally ref...

Metoposaurids are non-marine temnospondyls that are among the most common constituents of Late Triassic deposits, but despite their abundance, the evolutionary relationships of the group are poorly resolved and have not been fully addressed with modern phylogenetic methods. The genus Anaschisma is one of a number of poorly resolved metoposaurid tax...

Trematopids are a clade of terrestrial dissorophoid temnospondyls documented primarily from terrestrial Permo-Carboniferous environments in North America and Europe. Here we describe the complete skull and articulated mandibles of a diminutive trematopid specimen (OMNH 79318) from the Early Permian karst deposits near Richards Spur, Oklahoma. Based...

The Hapsidopareiidae is a group of “microsaurs” characterized by a substantial reduction of several elements in the cheek region that results in a prominent, enlarged temporal emargination. The clade comprises two markedly similar taxa from the early Permian of Oklahoma, Hapsidopareion lepton and Llistrofus pricei , which have been suggested to be...

The Permian temnospondyl Fayella chickashaensis from Oklahoma, a purported member of the intriguing clade of terrestrially adapted dissorophids, has been difficult to contextualize within the clade because of uncertainties related to the holotype, an isolated and badly weathered neurocranium. However, postcranial material that has been attributed t...

The Texas red beds represent one of the richest series of early Permian deposits in the world. In particular, the Clear Fork Group has produced a diverse assemblage of temnospondyls, early reptiles, and synapsids. However, most of this material has been sourced from the oldest member, the Arroyo Formation, and the understanding of the paleoecosyste...

Alegeinosaurus aphthitos is a poorly known dissorophid from the early Permian Arroyo Formation of Texas that is represented by a partial articulated block of postcrania, including an articulated pectoral girdle, portions of the ribcage, and articulated vertebrae with osteoderms. It is one of several dissorophid taxa whose placement within the famil...

Metoposaurids are Late Triassic temnospondyls that are abundant components of freshwater depositional settings. Although metoposaurids are represented by hundreds of specimens in collections around the world, the vast majority pertain to large-bodied, relatively mature individuals, and as a result, the early stages of ontogeny are still poorly char...

The armored dissorophid Cacops morrisi is one of many anamniote taxa preserved at the speciose early Permian karst deposit near Richards Spur, Oklahoma. The taxon was previously known only from two isolated skulls representing a juvenile individual and an adult individual. Here we describe one partial and two complete new skulls of juvenile and sub...

The early Permian karst system near Richards Spur, Oklahoma preserves a diverse assemblage of terrestrial dissorophoid temnospondyls. Here we report the presence of a large-bodied dissorophine dissorophid that is represented by an articulated anterior trunk region, including a partial pectoral girdle, a ribcage characterized by extremely developed...

Metoposaurids are typically large-bodied freshwater temnospondyls that are among the most commonly recovered vertebrate fossils in Late Triassic nonmarine deposits. Traditional interpretations of metoposaurid evolution have argued in favor of a size turnover in the southwest of North America from the large-bodied Koskinonodon in the early Norian to...

Denticles are small, tooth-like protrusions that are commonly found on the palate of early tetrapods. Despite their widespread taxonomic occurrence and similar external morphology to marginal teeth, it has not been rigorously tested whether denticles are structurally homologous to true teeth with features such as a pulp cavity, dentine, and enamel,...

Histological sections of ROM 76838 imaged with a lambda filter illustrating major features of palatal plate anatomy (A) TS01135; (B) TS01137; (C) TS01140; (D) TS01144. Scale bar = 500 µm.

Metoposaurids are temnospondyl amphibians that are well known from Upper Triassic deposits in North America, Europe, India, and Africa. Two species of metoposaurids, Koskinonodon perfectus and Apachesaurus gregorii, are among the most common fossils found in the Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) of the southwestern United States. The two are di...