The origin(s) of extant amphibians: a review with emphasis on the “lepospondyl hypothesis”

@inproceedings{Marjanovi2013TheOO,
  title={The origin(s) of extant amphibians: a review with emphasis on the “lepospondyl hypothesis”},
  author={David Marjanovi{\'c} and Michel Laurin},
  year={2013}
}
ABSTRACT The origins of the extant amphibians (frogs, salamanders, caecilians) remain controversial after over a century of debate. Three groups of hypotheses persist in the current literature: the “temnospondyl hypothesis” (TH) which roots Lissamphibia Haeckel, 1866 (the smallest clade composed of the extant amphibians) within the Paleozoic temnospondyls, the “lepospondyl hypothesis” (LH) which postulates a monophyletic Lissamphibia nested within the Paleozoic lepospondyls, and the “polyphyly… 
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The caecilian fossil record is revisited, providing a brief description of all known extinct taxa described so far, along with general remarks about their impact on systematics, time range, and geographical distribution of the clade, as well as prospects for future research.

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Gymnophiona, the most poorly known group of extant amphibians, includes elongated limbless tetrapods, with compact ossified skulls and reduced eyes, mainly adapted to fossorial life (only the…

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Analysis of the cranial data support a monophyletic origin among lepospondyls; a monophical origin among temnosponyls, the current near-consensus, is a distant second; all other hypotheses are exceedingly unlikely according to the data.

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An inclusive phylogenetic analysis of dissorophoids gives new insights into the large-scale topology of relationships, including a basal dichotomy between the large, heavily ossified Olsoniformes and the small salamander-like Amphibamiformes.

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TLDR
A fish-like hyobranchium in basal tetrapod lineages does not necessarily represent a larval or paedomorphic character, respectively, as was often suggested in analogy to extant salamanders, rather, it represents the plesiomorphic state of the adult hyob Franchium in tetrapods.

Amphibia: A Case of Diversity and Convergence in the Auditory Region

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It is argued that the loss of the tympanic system was an evolutionary option only available after the batrachian operculum had evolved, and is exemplified by the temnospondyl ear.

Cranial Morphology of the Brachystelechid ‘Microsaur’ Quasicaecilia texana Carroll Provides New Insights into the Diversity and Evolution of Braincase Morphology in Recumbirostran ‘Microsaurs’

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The organization of the skull roof and braincase of Quasicaecilia is found to be more in line with that of other recumbirostrans than previously described, despite differences in overall shape, and the importance of future attention to the role of the cervical musculature is underscored.
...

References

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TLDR
Anderson (2008) argues that the LH is mainly supported by loss char-acters, and that this is problematic ‘’given the relative easethat these losses can arise via paedomorphosis, which appears to evolve repeatedly’’, and emphasizes develop-ment characters such as digit development and skull ossi-fication order, which are known to be homoplastic.

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TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
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A reevaluation of the evidence supporting an unorthodox hypothesis on the origin of extant amphibians

TLDR
The most parsimonious trees - now longer by almost 64% - support one of the three commonly advocated hypotheses, namely a monophyletic Lissamphibia nested, together with its sister-group Albanerpetontidae, within the temnospondyls (next to Doleserpeton) - even though the authors did not add any characters or taxa to the very small data matrix.

The origin of modern amphibians: a re-evaluation

TLDR
A matrix based on data from all three hypotheses and analysed key taxa phylogenetically using both Bayesian inference and parsimony supported the temnospondyl hypothesis of lissamphibian origins.

Dates, nodes and character conflict: Addressing the Lissamphibian origin problem

TLDR
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CHAPTER 2 – A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON TETRAPOD PHYLOGENY

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TLDR
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