Lissamphibia Temporal range:
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Emerald glass frog (Centrolene prosoblepon) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Subclass: | Lissamphibia Haeckel, 1866 |
Subgroups | |
The Lissamphibia (from Greek λισσός (lissós, "smooth") + ἀμφίβια (amphíbia), meaning "smooth amphibians") is a group of tetrapods that includes all modern amphibians. Lissamphibians consist of three living groups: the Salientia (frogs, toads, and their extinct relatives), the Caudata (salamanders, newts, and their extinct relatives), and the Gymnophiona (the limbless caecilians and their extinct relatives).
Salientians and caudatans are likely more closely related to each other than to caecilians. The name Batrachia is commonly used for the clade combining salientians and caudatans. A fourth group, the Allocaudata (also known as Albanerpetontidae) is also known, spanning 160 million years from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Pleistocene, but became extinct two million years ago.
For several decades, this name has been used for a group that includes all living amphibians, but excludes all the main groups of Paleozoic tetrapods, such as Temnospondyli, Lepospondyli, Embolomeri, and Seymouriamorpha.[1] Most scientists have concluded that all of the primary groups of modern amphibians—frogs, salamanders and caecilians—are closely related.
Some writers have argued that the early Permian dissorophoid Gerobatrachus hottoni is a lissamphibian.[2] If it is not,[3] the earliest known lissamphibians are Triadobatrachus and Czatkobatrachus from the Early Triassic.[4][5]