Noun
temnospondyl (plural temnospondyls)
(biology) Any of many extinct primitive amphibians (labyrinthodonts) of the order Temnospondyli, from the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods.
Experts disagree over whether temnospondyls were ancestral to modern amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians), or whether the whole group died out without leaving descendants.