THE CLASSIFICATION OF AMPHIBIA - A DIFFICULT PROBLEM - BRIEF-HISTORY, CURRENT STATUS AND PALEONTOLOGICAL ASPECTS

There are currently three points of view concerning amphibian phylogeny and classification. The "Swedish school" regards Amphibia as di- or polyphyletic; it does not provide any classification. The "Anglo-American school" considers that Amphibia are derived from a common ancestor and that the three modern groups have arisen from two or three fossil groups; it has proposal several classification schemes more or less based on phylogenetic trees. The cladists consider that the living Amphibia (= Lissamphibia) make up a monophyletic group but, until to now, they have been unable to propose consensual cladogram of all amphibians (fossil and modern); consequently, there is no accepted classification founded on cladistic views. Therefore, only the classification schemes of the "Anglo-American school" are available.