[2] The pterygoid bone of the palate (roof of the mouth) has small tooth-like denticles closely packed along the rear edge of a projection which extends outwards and forwards.

This may be homologous to a structure found in amniotes: the transverse flange, a tooth-bearing horizontal ridge occupying a sharply angled rim at the back of the pterygoid.

Odonterpeton has a massive subtemporal fenestra, a hole behind each pterygoid which acts as a window for muscles stretching from the skull to the jaw.

Odonterpeton was assigned as a microbrachomorph based on its simple teeth, three-fingered hands, and skull roof bones which are strongly unequal in size.

[1] The fundamental division proposed by Carroll and Gaskill (1978) has long been superseded by the results of phylogenetic analyses, though microsaur systematics are still unstable and little consensus exists.

[6][3] One analysis, modified from previous studies with an expanded set of taxa, has suggested that Odonterpeton is completely unrelated to other "microbrachomorphs", and instead related to Sparodus.

These include a rounded skull, short snout, tiny forelimbs, large parietals, a pineal foramen which is shifted forward far enough to contact the frontals, and thin, distinctively textured scales.

Below is a cladogram showing the results of the analysis:[2] Ostodolepididae Gymnarthridae Pariotichus Proxilodon Huskerpeton Llistrofus Joermungandr Odonterpeton Aletrimyti Dvellecanus Rhynchonkos Molgophidae Brachystelechidae With its small size, small limbs, and presumed long body, Odonterpeton has been compared to fully aquatic salamanders such as Amphiuma.

The most common fossils are fish, particularly coelacanths (Rhabdoderma), small haplolepid 'palaeoniscoids' (Microhaplolepis, Parahaplolepis), and xenacanthid shark teeth (Orthacanthus).

[7] Linton preserves at least 6 temnospondyl species, including common freshwater dvinosaurians (Isodectes obtusus[8], Erpetosaurus radiatus) and rare terrestrial dissorophoids (Platyrhinops lyelli,[9] Stegops newberryi) and edopoids (Macrerpeton huxleyi).

Other amphibians are rare, such as the large baphetid Megalocephalus lineolatus, the embolomere Leptophractus obsoletus, and the small lizard-like gephyrostegid Eusauropleura digitata.

[7] Linton even preserves a few fully terrestrial amniote fossils, such as Anthracodromeus longipes (a eureptile) and Carbonodraco lundi (a fanged parareptile).

Freshwater and riparian animals would have continued to inhabit shallower water until the channel was fully filled in by collapsed levee debris and encroaching land plants.

[11][12][13] Linton's vertebrate faunas may have been tolerant of mild salinity levels, which may explain the absence of fully freshwater specialist amphibians like microbrachids, micromelerpetontids, and branchiosaurids.