Stegocephali

Stegocephali; Temporal range: Late Devonian – Present, 375–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Possibly Middle Devonian
	Examples of stegocephalians (clockwise from top left): Litoria phyllochroa, Acanthostega gunnari, Vulpes vulpes, and Tyto alba
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Elpistostegalia
Clade:	Stegocephali; Cope, 1868
Subgroups
	See text.

Stegocephali is a group containing all four-limbed vertebrates.

The word was first used in 1868 by the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, who used it as a general category of prehistoric amphibians. This did not get used by other people.

In 1998 the Canadian paleontologist Michel Laurin used the word and gave a formal phylogenetic definition. This was intended to include taxa with digits rather than fins, except where secondarily lost.^[1]

References

↑ Michel Laurin (1998): The importance of global parsimony and historical bias in understanding tetrapod evolution. Part I-systematics, middle ear evolution, and jaw suspension. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie, Paris, 13e Series 19: pp 1–42.

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[1] Michel Laurin (1998): The importance of global parsimony and historical bias in understanding tetrapod evolution. Part I-systematics, middle ear evolution, and jaw suspension. Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie, Paris, 13e Series 19: pp 1–42.

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