Dissorophus fossil map
Where fossils of Dissorophus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 275 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 275 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early tetrapods & amphibians |
|---|---|
| Lived | 298.9–274.4 million years ago (Asselian to Kungurian) |
| Periods | Permian |
| Family | Dissorophidae |
| Named by | Cope 1895 |
| Fossil records | 8 occurrences at 6 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | United States |
| Rock formations | txn:37017, Arroyo |
About Dissorophus
Dissorophus (DI-soh-ROH-fus) (meaning "double roof" for two layers of armor) is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian that lived during the Early Permian Period about 273 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in Texas and in Oklahoma in North America. Its heavy armor and robust build indicate Dissorophus was active on land, similar to other members of the clade Dissorophidae that are known from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Permian periods. Dissorophus is distinguished by its small body size, disproportionately large head and short trunk.
The American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first briefly described Dissorophus in 1895, likely deriving the genus name from Ancient Greek δισσός/dissos "double" and ὀροφή/orophe "roof" to refer to the double layer of armor formed by horizontal "spinous branches" at the top of the neural spines of the vertebrae that "touch each other, forming a carapace" with overlying rows of bony osteoderms that form an armored "dermal layer of transverse bands which correspond to the skeletal carapace beneath," a feature expressed as well in the type species name multicinctus, meaning "many-banded" in Latin. Cope referred to the animal as "a veritable batrachian [amphibian] armadillo."
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Dissorophus (revision 1371404292), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q3564830.
