Jeholotriton
| Jeholotriton Temporal range: Early Cretaceous
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| Genus: | Jeholotriton Wang, 2000
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J. paradoxus Wang, 2000 (type) | |
Jeholotriton is an extinct genus of amphibian. It's monotypic species is Jeholotriton paradoxus.
Jeholotriton paradoxus is a neotenic, basal caudate found in the ?Late Jurassic Daohugou fossil bed near Daohugou village of Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), China.
Yuan Wang (2000)[1] from IVPP (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences named this new taxon on Vertabrata PalAsiatica with a short English abstract. In 2005, he presented a full description on Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology with C. S. Rose from James Madison University, USA[2].
This Mesozoic amphibian is characterized by a combination of larval and adult features indicating neoteny or incomplete metamorphosis. Larval features include: external gills; toothbearing coronoid; larval-shaped pterygoid; short maxillary arcade with underdeveloped maxilla. Adult features include: extensive medial contact of nasals; posteriorly directed, dentigerous vomerine bar in the palate. Differing from other Mesozoic salamanders in the following combination of character states: 15–16 presacrals; vertebrae with short transverse processes; ribs unicapitate and proximally expanded; anterior process of pterygoid directed anteromedially towards vomer, rather than anterolaterally towards posterior end of maxilla; vomer with large tooth patch anteriorly and longitudinal dentigerous bar posteriorly; nasals large with no anterior notch; frontal with no anterolateral extension; alary process of premaxilla about two-fifths width of premaxilla; coronoid process of coronoid/prearticular uni-lobed; coracoid end of scapolocoracoid slightly expanded and round in shape; phalangeal formulae of 2-2-3-2 and (1/2)-2-3-3-2 for manus and pes, respectively.
Phylogenetic analysis[3] regarded Jeholotriton as a possible sister taxon to Pangerpeton, a short-bodied form from adjacent locality in Lingyuan of Liaoning Province, stata comparable to the Daohugou Bed. These to taxa are close to the base of crown−group Urodela either just outside it or just within.
- ^ Wang, Y., 2000. A new salamander (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 38(2): 100~103. [in Chinese, with English abstract]
- ^ Wang, Y., Rose, C., 2005. Jeholotriton paradoxus (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Lower Cretaceous of southeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25(3): 523~532.
- ^ Wang, Y., Evans, S. E., 2006. A new short-bodied salamander from the Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous of China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 51(1):127~130.
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References
- Fins into Limbs: Evolution, Development, and Transformation by Brian K. Hall
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