Talk:Amphibamidae

Questionable statements
The section Relationship to Batrachia has two questionable statements:
 * This would make Amphibamidae a paraphyletic taxon, since it would not contain all descendants of the last common ancestor of amphibamids. If Gerobatrachus is the sister taxon of Batrachia, then all modern amphibians descend from an amphibamid ancestor.

Neither statement is supported by the reference. Furthermore, neither is a necessary conclusion from the premise. If all lissamphibians turned out to be amphibamids, either of two things could happen: Amphibamidae could be an evolutionary grade, or it could be a monophyletic clade that encompasses both extinct forms and living lissamphibians. I think taxonomists will cross that bridge when (and if) they come to it. On the second statement, if Gerobatrachus is the sister taxon of Batrachia, then caecilians could be just about anywhere, including even among the lepospondyls. The point is, it's not a necessary conclusion. Incidentall, Doleserpeton has replaced Gerobatrachus as the likliest candidate for sister clade of Batrachia. Zyxwv99 (talk) 23:47, 25 June 2015 (UTC)