Editing Eryops (section)

==Discovery and species==
[[File:Eryops megacephalus (cast) at Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum 2355.jpg|thumb|Cast of the skull]]
''Eryops'' is currently thought to contain only one species, ''E. megacephalus'', which means "large-headed ''Eryops''". ''E. megacephalus'' fossils have been found only in rocks dated to the early [[Permian]] period ([[Sakmarian]] age, about 295 million years ago) in the southwestern United States, primarily in the [[Admiral Formation]] of the [[Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma|Texas Red Beds]].<ref>Gould, Stephen Jay, ed.
 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9DIloiBThhIC&dq=eryops+archer+county&pg=PA94 The Book Of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth.] W.W. Norton: 2001, pg. 94. Retrieved August 28, 2017.</ref> During the mid-20th century, some older fossils were classified as a second species of ''Eryops'', ''E. avinoffi''. This species, known from [[Carboniferous]] period fossil found in [[Pennsylvania]], had originally been classified in the genus ''[[Glaukerpeton]]''.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Romer |first1=Alfred S. |year=1952 |title=Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian vertebrates in the Pittsburgh-West Virginia region |journal=Annals of Carnegie Museum |volume=33 |pages=47–113}}</ref> Beginning in the late 1950s, some scientists concluded that ''Glaukerpeton'' was too similar to ''Eyrops'' to deserve its own genus. However, later studies supported the original classification of ''Glaukerpeton'', finding it was more primitive than ''Eryops'' and other early temnospondyls.<ref name=werneburg&berman2012>{{cite journal|doi=10.2992/007.081.0103|title=Revision of the aquatic eryopid temnospondyl ''Glaukerpeton avinoffi'' Romer, 1952, from the Upper Pennsylvanian of North America|journal=Annals of Carnegie Museum|volume=81|pages=33–60 |year=2012|last1=Werneburg|first1=Ralf|last2=Berman|first2=David S|s2cid=83566130}}</ref> Supposed ''Eryops'' fossils found in older [[Pennsylvanian (geology)|Pennsylvanian]] epoch rocks of the [[Conemaugh Group]] in West Virginia<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Murphy |first1=James L. |year=1971 |title=Eryopsid Remains from the Conemaugh Group, Braxton County, West Virginia |journal=Southeastern Geology |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=265–273}}</ref> also turned out to be remains of ''Glaukerpeton''.<ref name=werneburg&berman2012/> In 2005, a skull clearly belonging to ''Eryops'' was found in upper [[Pennsylvanian (geology)|Pennsylvanian]] epoch rocks of the [[El Cobre Canyon Formation]] in [[New Mexico]], representing the oldest known specimen.<ref name=werneburgetal2010a>{{cite book| last1=Werneburg |first1=R. |author2=S.G. Lucas |author3=J.W. Schneider |author4=L.F. Rinehart |year=2010 |chapter=First Pennsylvanian ''Eryops'' (Temnospondyli) and its Permian record from New Mexico |pages=129–135 |editor1=Lucas, S.G. |editor2=J.W. Schneider |editor3=J.A. Spielmann |title=Carboniferous-Permian transition in Canõn del Cobre, northern New Mexico |series=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin |volume=49}}</ref>