The most basal group of temnospondyls is the superfamily Edopoidea . Edopoids have several primitive or plesiomorphic features , including a single occipital condyle and a bone called the intertemporal that is absent in other temnospondyls . Edopoids include the Late Carboniferous genus Edops and the family Cochleosauridae . Dendrerpetontidae has also been included in Edopoidea , and is the oldest known temnospondyl family . Balanerpeton woodi is the oldest species , having been present over 330 million years ago during the Viséan stage of the Early Carboniferous . Recent analyses place Dendrerpetontidae outside Edopoidea in a more derived position . Other primitive temnospondyls include Capetus and Iberospondylus . Saharastega and Nigerpeton , both described in 2005 from Niger , are also primitive yet come from the Late Permian . They are almost 40 million years younger than other basal temnospondyls , implying a long ghost lineage of species that are not yet known in the fossil record .