Page "Amphibian" Paragraph 23

With the phylogenetic classification, the taxon Labyrinthodontia has been discarded as it is a paraphyletic group without unique defining features apart from shared primitive characteristics.

Classification varies according to the preferred phylogeny of the author and whether they use a stem-based or a node-based classification.

Traditionally, amphibians as a class are defined as all tetrapods with a larval stage, while the group that includes the common ancestors of all living amphibians ( frogs, salamanders and caecilians ) and all their descendants is called Lissamphibia.

The phylogeny of Paleozoic amphibians is uncertain, and Lissamphibia may possibly fall within extinct groups like the Temnospondyli ( traditionally placed in the subclass Labyrinthodontia ), and the Lepospondyli, and in some analysis even the amniotes.

This means that advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature have removed a large number of basal Devonian and Carboniferous amphibian-type tetrapod groups that were formerly placed in Amphibia in Linnaean taxonomy, and included them elsewhere under cladistic taxonomy.