One of the largest recognized groups of early amphibians with about 180 described genera. The Temnospondyli first appear in the fossil record in the lower Carboniferous and reach substantial diversity in the later Carboniferous and Permian. The end-Permian extinction event wiped out several families, but the surviving lineages rediversified and temnospondyls remained numerous through the Triassic before declining in the later Mesozoic, the last survivor (Koolasuchus) being known from the mid-Cretaceous of Australia.