Sclerocephalus, GOLDFUSS, 1847

Schoch, Rainer R. & Witzmann, Florian, 2009, Osteology and relationships of the temnospondyl genus Sclerocephalus, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 157 (1), pp. 135-168 : 144

NON SCLEROCEPHALUS

In the course of the present study, we revisited the available evidence on two other taxa that were previously referred to Sclerocephalus .

Sclerocephalus credneri Fritsch, 1901 . This species is based on poorly preserved material most recently revised by Werneburg (1993), who referred it to O. labyrinthicus . None of the autapomorphies of Sclerocephalus are present in this material, whereas the shape of the interclavicle and the abbreviated posterior skull table indeed suggest closer relationships with Onchiodon and Eryops .

Onchiodon frossardi ( Gaudry, 1866) . Described by Gaudry (1887), Thevenin (1910), and Heyler (1966). Part of the classic material from the French Autun Basin, including the holotype of O. frossardi , was recently revised by Werneburg (1997) and Werneburg & Steyer (1999). As suggested earlier by Boy (1988), the broad-skulled specimens from France share various features with eryopids (see phylogenetic analysis), but none with Sclerocephalus or stereospondylomorphs. In the light of our new evidence on Sclerocephalus , there are no grounds to include O. frossardi in Sclerocephalus , as suggested by Schoch & Milner (2000). In the present study, we refer to this taxon as O. frossardi , as was proposed by the last revisors, Werneburg & Steyer (1999). We do so despite the fact that our phylogenetic analysis (below) does not find O. frossardi and O. labyrinthicus to form a clade, because we want to leave nomenclatorial changes to future, more detailed studies of eryopid intrarelationships.