 After the Carboniferous rainforest collapse amphibian dominance gave way to reptiles , and amphibians were further devastated by the Permian – Triassic extinction event . During the Triassic Period ( 250 to 200 million years ago ) , the reptiles continued to out @-@ compete the amphibians , leading to a reduction in both the amphibians ' size and their importance in the biosphere . According to the fossil record , Lissamphibia , which includes all modern amphibians and is the only surviving lineage , may have branched off from the extinct groups Temnospondyli and Lepospondyli at some period between the Late Carboniferous and the Early Triassic . The relative scarcity of fossil evidence precludes precise dating , but the most recent molecular study , based on multilocus sequence typing , suggests a Late Carboniferous / Early Permian origin for extant amphibians . 
