Oedaleops

Oedaleops is an extinct genus of caseasaur synapsids from the Early Permian of the Southwestern United States.

Fossils have been found in the Cutler Formation in New Mexico, which dates back to the Wolfcampian stage of the Early Permian.

The more fragmentary specimens have been assigned to Oedaleops with caution because they are hard to distinguish from the bones of other Cutler Formation synapsids such as Aerosaurus.

It differs from its closest relative, Eothyris, in having a frontal bone that forms a greater portion of the upper margin of the orbit.

Below is a cladogram from the phylogenetic analysis of Sumida et al. (2013) that shows many of the same relationships as those found in previous analyses, except for having Eothyris being more closely related to caseids than to Oedaleops (making Eothyrididae paraphyletic):[1] Oedaleops Eothyris Cotylorhynchus Archaeothyris Ophiacodon Archaeovenator Mesenosaurus Mycterosaurus Elliotsmithia Aerosaurus Varanops Varanodon Watongia