Nigerpeton

Nigerpeton
Temporal range:
Nigerpeton
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Temnospondyli
Family: Cochleosauridae
Subfamily: Cochleosaurinae
Genus: Nigerpeton
Sidor et al., 2005
Species
  • Nigerpeton ricqlesi

Nigerpeton (Niger, for the country, and herpeton (Greek), meaning crawler) is an extinct genus of crocodile-like temnospondyls from the late Permian (Changhsingian) period. These temnospondyls lived in modern-day Niger, which was once part of central Pangaea, about 250 million years ago. Nigerpeton is a member of the Cochleosauridae family, a group of edopoid temnospondyl amphibians known from the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and early Permian (Cisuralian).