Order PLESIOPODA
(plesios, Gr., near, almost; podos, Gr., foot)
Labyrinthodontia having limbs provided with digits, but retaining posterior flanges on axial bones as in Rhipidistia, without joint-structure at elbow and wrist essential for terrestrial locomotion; neurocranium having separate otico-occipital section, large notochordal canal, no occipital condyle, as in Rhipidistia; nares separate from rim of mouth; pectoral girdle anthracosaurian; vertebrae having U-shaped intercentrum and paired, but large, pleurocentra.
Probably associated with the characters of the order, as given above, are the connection of pectoral girdle with skull, and the presence of a tympanic membrane, the stapes functioning in both sound-transmission and palatoquadrate suspension.