When it was first named in 1972, Almasaurus was placed within its own superfamily, the Almasauroidea.[1] Although the related latiscopid Latiscopus disjunctus possesses exoccipitals that are underplated (a feature that suggests that it is a member of the family Trematosauridae)[2]Almasaurus is not considered to be a trematosaurid because it lacks such underplating.[3]Almasaurus was considered to be a capitosaurian by Warren & Black (1985) because it shared several characters with the group, including a deeply notched squamosal and a lacrimal flexure, while supposedly exhibiting none of the characters associated with trematosaurians.[3] However, more recent studies have concluded that Almasaurus is either a temnospondyl more basal than the clade formed from the dichotomy between Capitosauria and Trematosauria[4] or that the genus is closely related to the trematosaurian family Metoposauridae, perhaps being a sister taxon of it.[5][6]
A temnospondyl genus described in 2000, Rileymillerus, is thought to be closely related to Almasaurus.[7]
Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic position of Almasaurus, from Schoch (2008):[6]
^Wilson, J. A. (1948). "A small amphibian from the Triassic of Howard County, Texas". Journal of Paleontology. 22: 359–361.
^ abWarren, A.; Black, T. (1985). "A new rhytidosteid (Amphibia, Labyrinthodontia) from the Early Triassic Arcadia Formation of Queensland, Australia, and the relationships of Triassic temnospondyls". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 5 (4): 303–327. doi:10.1080/02724634.1985.10011868.
^Steyer, J. S. (2002). "The first articulated trematosaur 'amphibian' from the Lower Triassic of Madagascar: implications for the phylogeny of the group". Palaeontology. 45: 771–793. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00260.
