What is Stegocephali?
{{automatic taxobox | fossil_range = [[Late Devonian]] – [[Holocene|Present]], {{Fossil range|earliest=395|375|0}} Possibly [[Middle Devonian]] | image = Stegocephali.png | image_caption = Examples of stegocephalians (clockwise from top left): ''[[Litoria phyllochroa]]'', ''[[Acanthostega gunnari]]'', ''[[Vulpes vulpes]]'', and ''[[Tyto alba]]'' | taxon = Stegocephalia | authority = [[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope]], 1868 | subdivision_ranks = Subgroups | subdivision = See text. }} '''Stegocephali''' is a group containing all four-[[limb]]ed [[Vertebrate|vertebrates]]. The word was first used in 1868 by the American [[paleontologist]] [[Edward Drinker Cope]], who used it as a general category of [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] [[Amphibian|amphibians]]. This did not get used by other people. In 1998 the Canadian paleontologist Michel Laurin used the word and gave a formal [[phylogenetic]] definition. This was intended to include [[Taxon|taxa]] with digits rather than [[Fin|fins]], except where secondarily lost.<ref>Michel Laurin (1998): The importance of global parsimony and historical bias in understanding tetrapod evolution. Part I-systematics, middle ear evolution, and jaw suspension. ''Annales des Sciences Naturelles'', Zoologie, Paris, 13e Series 19: pp 1–42.</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Lobe-finned fish]] {{biology-stub}}