Brachyopomorpha

Brachyopomorpha is a clade of stereospondyl temnospondyls within the infraorder Trematosauria. It was constructed in 2000 to include Bothriceps australis and the superfamily Brachyopoidea.^[1] It is phylogenetically defined as a stem-based taxon including Pelorocephalus and all taxa closer to it than to Rhytidosteus. In contrast, Brachyopoidea is defined as a node-based taxon including Brachyops and Pelorocephalus and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor. Because Bothriceps is not thought to be a descendant of that recent common ancestor and would be more basal than it, the genus is placed just outside Brachyopoidea and is considered to be a sister taxon to the clade.^[1][2]

Cladogram of Brachyopomorpha

Brachyopomorpha Bothriceps Keratobrachyops Brachyopoidea Brachyopidae Chigutisauridae

Damiani and Kitching, 2003[3]

Brachyopomorpha Temporal range: Early Triassic - Middle Cretaceous, 252.3–120 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Pelorocephalus tenax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Tetrapoda
Order:	†Temnospondyli
Suborder:	†Stereospondyli
Clade:	†Trematosauria
Clade:	†Brachyopomorpha Warren and Marsicano, 2000
Genera and superfamilies
†Bothriceps †Keratobrachyops †Brachyopoidea

Bothriceps was once considered to be a brachyopid within Brachyopoidea, but is now placed on the brachyopoid stem closer to Brachyopoidea than to Rhytidosteidae due to the presence of several plesiomorphies (ancestral characters). The probable presence of a tabular horn in Bothriceps also suggests that it is a basal brachyopomorph rather than a brachyopid.^[1]

Keratobrachyops, once assigned to Chigutisauridae, is now thought to be a basal brachyopomorph closely related to Bothriceps.^[3]