B R E V i,ja,P A Museum of Compa^tjj^Ci Zoology us ISSN 0006-9698 Cambridge, Mass. 10 January 1995 ERSITNumber 500 THE PENNSYLVANIAN TEMNOSPONDYL COCHLEOSAURUS FLORENSIS RIEPPEL, FROM THE LYCOPSID STUMP FAUNA AT FLORENCE, NOVA SCOTIA 2,3 Stephen J. Godfrey' and Robert Holmes Abstract. A previously undescribed skull of the Pennsylvanian cochleosaurid Cochleosaurusflorensis Rieppel, from Florence, Nova Scotia, Canada, contributes the following characters to the generic diagnosis: extreme elongation of both the vomers and choanae, exclusion of the ectopterygoids and maxillae from the sub-temporal fossae by a broad lateral ala of the pterygoid, and triangular tabular "horns." The transverse width of the skull through the midorbital region is less than the antorbital length. The configuration of the vomers and the general pro-portions of the palate resemble those of the Permian cochleosaurid Chenoprosopus milleh Mehl. The two genera are united in a monophyletic family— the Cochleo-sauridae— by the following autapomorphies: absence of the parietal foramen and lateral line sulci, subdued sculpturing on depressed areas of the dermal skull roof, an elongate antorbital region of the skull that is reflected in the palate by the greatly elongate vomers, ectopterygoid and maxilla excluded from the rim of the subtemporal fossa by a lateral ala of the pterygoid that makes contact with the jugal, and very long, triangular choanae. INTRODUCTION Members of the order Temnospondyli comprise the most nu-merous and diverse of all amphibian groups, enjoying a strati-graphic range extending from the Lower Carboniferous to the Lower Cretaceous. The superfamily Edopoidea has traditionally ' Paleo-Skullpture Studio, Box 692, Rosedale. Alberta TOJ 2V0, Canada. ^ Redpath Museum, McGill University, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada. ^ To whom reprint requests should be addressed.
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