and fossils now recognised as belonging to
mastodonsaurids and
Bromsgroveia Originally, the term was used as a
systematic unit at the rank of
order. The term rose to prominence in American and British science in the 19th century, though the largely equivalent term
Labyrinthodontia had been coined 18 years earlier by
Hermann Burmeister in reference to the tooth structure. The terms were used interchangeably during the early 20th century, usually divided into three orders. Cope originally spelled the term as "Stegocephali", though
A.S. Woodward introduced a popular alternative spelling, "Stegocephalia", in 1898. Therefore, Stegocephali includes all vertebrate groups that have toes rather than fins, and a few (
Elginerpeton,
Metaxygnathus,
Ventastega and possibly
Hynerpeton) that may have retained paired fins. Contrary to the old usage of this term, the Stegocephali refers to a
clade in this scheme. This concept of the clade Stegocephali was chosen to substitute for the name
Tetrapoda by those who sought to restrict Tetrapoda to the
crown group. As such, it encompasses all presently living land vertebrates as well as their early amphibious ancestors. ==Phylogeny==