The Lapillopsidae: A new family of small temnospondyls from the Early Triassic of Australia

New material from the Arcadia Formation (Rewan Group) of Queensland is refe rred to the small temnospondyl Lapillopsis nana. This species is redescribe d and its systematic position is reconsidered. Originally described as a di ssorophoid, L. nana lacks most of the synapomorphies that diagnose the Diss orophoidca, such as a laterally exposed palatine, a dorsal process on the q uadrate, and a ventral nasal flange. Instead, it possesses synapomorphies w hich diagnose the Stereospondyli or more inclusive clades, such as ornament ed pterygoids, a pterygoid-parasphenoid articulation that sutures early in ontogeny, a postglenoid area on the mandible, and lacrimals that are exclud ed from both the orbital and narial margins. Rotaurisaurus contundo gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Knocklofty Sandstone of Tasmania, based on a specimen that was first identified as a juvenile lydekkerinid. it shares with Lapillopsis nana an unusual tabular horn morphology and a narrow ptery goid-parasphenoid articulation, as well as a similar combination of derived and plesiomorphic characters. The two tars together form the Lapillopsidae fam. nov., a family of basal stereospondyls. Lapillopsids may have filled a semiterrestrial dissorophoid-like niche in the Early Triassic of Gondwana .