Linglongtriton, a new Jurassic salamander

[Halichoeres]

This paper describes a new genus of fossil salamanders from the Jurassic of China. It's part of the stem-group of the Asian family Hynobiidae, which is the sister group of the family that contains the hellbender and giant salamanders. This one's pretty similar in size to modern hynobiids, and is the first record of the group before the Cretaceous. Really nice preservation:



Paper (paywall): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2019.1588285

[Newt]

Those are exquisite!


When I took Herpetology, the Jurassic caudate record was Kaururus. That's it. I'm very glad to see the recent flood of early salamander fossils being described.