Pasawioops is an extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of dissorophoid

Dissorophoidea

Dissorophoideans are a clade of medium-sized, temnospondyl amphibians that appeared during the Late Pennsylvanian in Euramerica, and continued through to the Late Permian and even possibly the Early Triassic of Gondwana...

 euskelia

Euskelia

Euskelia is a clade of extinct Temnospondyl amphibians.-References:*Yates, A. M. & Warren, A. A. , The phylogeny of the 'higher' temnospondyls and its implications for the monophyly and origins of the Stereospondyli. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 128: 77-121....

n temnospondyl within the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Amphibamidae

Amphibamidae

Amphibamidae is an extinct family of dissorophoid euskelian temnospondyls. The earliest amphibamids such as Amphibamus are known from Early Permian strata in the United States, while the last known amphibamid, Micropholis, is known from the Early Triassic Karoo Basin of South Africa...

. It has been found from the fissure fills of Richards Spur in Comanche County

Comanche County, Oklahoma

Comanche County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Built on former reservation lands of the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache in Indian Territory, Comanche County was open for settlement on August 16, 1901 by lottery. The region has three cities and seven towns as well as the Fort Sill...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, which are Early Permian in age. It is known from two skulls. The holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 skull, called OMNH

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Norman, Oklahoma, operated by the University of Oklahoma. It is currently housed in a building on Chautauqua Avenue that opened on May 1, 2000. The museum's exhibits include a Native American gallery and collections of...

 73019, is complete and well preserved. The second skull, OMNH 73509, only has the posterior portion preserved but is almost twice the size of OMNH 73019. Pasawioops has a characteristically long skull with enlarged tabular and postparietal bones. The teeth of Pasawioops are monocuspid and recurved. Unlike other amphibamids such as Gerobatrachus

Gerobatrachus

Gerobatrachus, also referred to as a frogamander, is an extinct genus of amphibamid temnospondyl that lived in the Permian period, approximately 290 million years ago, in the area that is now Baylor County, Texas...

, the teeth are not pedicellate

Pedicellate teeth

Pedicellate teeth are a tooth morphology today unique to modern amphibians, but also seen in a variety of extinct labyrinthodonts. Pedicellate teeth consist of a tooth crown and a base separated by a layer of uncalcified dentine....

, or narrow at the base.

Pasawioops is closely related to Micropholis

Micropholis (amphibian)

Micropholis is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl. Fossils have been found from the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin in South Africa, and date back to the Early Triassic...

, an amphibamid known from the Late Triassic

Late Triassic

The Late Triassic is in the geologic timescale the third and final of three epochs of the Triassic period. The corresponding series is known as the Upper Triassic. In the past it was sometimes called the Keuper, after a German lithostratigraphic group that has a roughly corresponding age...

 Beaufort Group

Beaufort Group

The Beaufort Group is the third of the main subdivisions of the Karoo Supergroup of geological strata in Southern Africa. It follows conformably after the Ecca Group and consists essentially of sandstones and shales, deposited in the Karoo Basin from the Middle Permian to the early part of the...

 in the Karoo Basin

Karoo

The Karoo is a semi-desert region of South Africa. It has two main sub-regions - the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The 'High' Karoo is one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger South African Platform division.-Great Karoo:The Great Karoo has an area of...

 of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The two genera are sister taxa, and form a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 along with Tersomius

Tersomius

Tersomius is an extinct genus of dissorophoidean euskelian temnospondyl within the family Doleserpetontidae.-See also:* Prehistoric amphibian* List of prehistoric amphibians...

that is distinct from other amphibamids such as Amphibamus

Amphibamus

Amphibamus is a genus of amphibamid temnospondyl amphibian from the Carboniferous of Europe and North America....

, Doleserpeton

Doleserpeton

Doleserpeton is an extinct genus of dissorophoidean euskelian temnospondyl within the family Amphibamidae. The genus is noted for the pressence of bicuspid, pedicelate teeth, a trait linking them to modern amphibians, as well as generally frog-like skull....

, and Eoscopus

Eoscopus

Eoscopus is an extinct genus of dissorophoidean euskelian temnospondyl within the family Amphibamidae.-See also:* Prehistoric amphibian* List of prehistoric amphibians...

.

External links

• Pasawioops in the Paleobiology Database
  Paleobiology Database
  ' is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms.-History:The Paleobiology Database was founded in 2000. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council...