page_title: Labyrinthodont
hierarchical_section_title: Labyrinthodont
caption_attribution_description: Eryops megacephalus
context_page_description: Labyrinthodont is a term which was used for fossil amphibia. Although it is no longer a formal term in taxonomy, it is still useful as an evolutionary grade, a kind of catch-all term. Labyrinth mean a maze and dont means tooth.
  Labyrinthodonts are often called Temnospondyls.
  The Labyrinthodontia is not a clade, because it is not monophyletic. It has been replaced in the classification by more correct terms.
  The labyrithodonts were some of the dominant animals from the Devonian to the Lower Triassic. The group is an evolutionary grade of species which look rather similar.
  The name describes the pattern of infolding of the dentine and enamel of the teeth, which often fossilise. They are also have a heavily armoured skull roof, and complex vertebrae.
context_section_description: Labyrinthodont is a term which was used for fossil amphibia. Although it is no longer a formal term in taxonomy, it is still useful as an evolutionary grade, a kind of catch-all term. Labyrinth mean a maze and dont means tooth.
  Labyrinthodonts are often called Temnospondyls.
  The Labyrinthodontia is not a clade, because it is not monophyletic. It has been replaced in the classification by more correct terms.
  The labyrithodonts were some of the dominant animals from the Devonian to the Lower Triassic (about 390 to 210 million years ago). The group is an evolutionary grade (a polyphyletic or paraphyletic group) of species which look rather similar.
  The name describes the pattern of infolding of the dentine and enamel of the teeth, which often fossilise. They are also have a heavily armoured skull roof (so they also have an even older name "Stegocephalia"), and complex vertebrae.
caption: Front view of Eryops megacephalus, Gallerie de Paléontologie, MNHN, Paris.
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