Lepospondyli

Lepospondyli are a group of small but diverse Carboniferous to early Permian tetrapods. Six different groups are known, the Acherontiscidae, Adelospondyli, Aïstopoda, Lysorophia, Microsauria and Nectridea, and between them they include newt-like, eel- or snake-like, and lizard-like forms, along with species that do not fit any current category. Various species were aquatic, semi-aquatic, or terrestrial. None were large (the biggest genus, the diplocaulid Diplocaulus, reached a meter in length, but most were much smaller), and it can be assumed that they lived in specialised ecological niches not taken by their more numerous Temnospondyl contemporaries.