Cacops

Cacops, a genus of dissorophid temnospondyls, is one of the most distinctive Paleozoic amphibians that diversified in the equatorial region of Pangea during the Kungurian stage of the Early Permian. Dissorophids were a group of fully terrestrial, often heavily armored predators. This contrasts with the majority of aquatic or amphibious anamniotes, which not did develop into clearly defined terrestrial adults. This, along with their relatively large size and geographical range suggest that they were able to coexist with amniotes as predators before the Permo-Triassic extinction event. Dissorophidae has two distinct clades differentiated on the morphology of the osteoderms, the Eucacopinae and the Dissorophinae. Cacops is one of the few olsoniforms whose ontogeny is beginning to surface. Cacops fossils have previously only come from the Cacops Bone Bed during the Lower Permian of Texas. However, new material collected from the Dolese Brothers Quarry, near Richards Spur, Oklahoma and the Fort Sill fissure fills has been recovered, painting a clearer picture of what the animal looked and acted like.