Skip to main content
Log in

Mesozoic salamanders and albanerpetontids of Middle Asia, Kazakhstan, and Siberia

  • Review
  • Published:
Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mesozoic terrestrial deposits containing diverse vertebrate assemblages are widely distributed in Siberia (central and eastern part of Russia), Middle Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), and Kazakhstan. Twelve formations of Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) to Late Cretaceous (Campanian) age in the region contain salamanders (six in Middle Asia, two in Siberia and four in Kazakhstan). In contrast to the situation in Euramerica, albanerpetontids are extremely rare in the Mesozoic of Asia, where their fossil record is limited to the Khodzhakul (Cenomanian) and Bissekty (Turonian) formations, both in Uzbekistan. Salamanders in Siberia are known from the Bathonian Itat Formation in the Krasnoyarsk Region (the stem salamander Urupia monstrosa and two undescribed taxa—a new stem salamander and a possible crown-group salamander) and from the Aptian–Albian Ilek Formation in Kemerovo Province and the Krasnoyarsk Region (the crown-group salamander Kiyatriton leshchinskiyi and Caudata indet.). In the Jurassic of Middle Asia, the stem salamanders Kokartus honorarius and Karauridae indet. are known from the Bathonian–Callovian Balabansai Formation in Kyrgyzstan. Younger records in Middle Asia are restricted to only two Late Cretaceous genera of crown-group salamanders: the possible cryptobranchoid Nesovtriton in the Bissekty Formation (Turonian) and the cryptobranchid Eoscapherpeton in the Khodzhakul, Dzharakuduk, Bissekty, and Aitym formations (collectively Cenomanian–Campanian) in Uzbekistan and the Yalovach Formation (Santonian) in Tajikistan. In Kazakhstan, salamanders are known from the Kimmeridgian Karabastau Formation (the stem salamander Karaurus sharovi), the Turonian Zhirkindek Formation (Caudata indet.), the Santonian–Campanian Bostobe Formation (the cryptobranchid Eoscapherpeton, the possible proteid “Bishara backa” and Caudata indet.) and the Campanian Darbasa Formation (the cryptobranchid Eoscapherpeton). Cenomanian–Campanian vertebrate assemblages in Middle Asia and Kazakhstan are characterised by dominance of the cryptobranchid Eoscapherpeton.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson JS, Reisz RR, Scott D, Fröbisch NB, Sumida SS (2008) A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders. Nature 453:515–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Astibia H, Buffetaut E, Buscalioni AD, Cappetta H, Corral C, Estes R, Garcia-Garmilla F, Jaeger JJ, Jimenez-Fuentes E, Le Loeuff J, Mazin JM, Orue-Etxebarria X, Pereda-Suberbiola J, Powell JE, Rage J-C, Rodriguez-Lazaro J, Sanz JL, Tong H (1990) The fossil vertebrates from Laño (Basque Country, Spain); new evidence on the composition and affinities of the Late Cretaceous continental faunas of Europe. Terra Nova 2:460–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO (1999) Annotated list of taxa described by L. A. Nesov (in Russian). Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta RAN 277:7–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO, Nessov LA (1995) A new Cretaceous mammal from the Campanian of Kazakhstan. N Jb Geol Paläont, Mh 1995:65–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO, Sues H-D (2007) A new troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Uzbekistan, with a review of troodontid records from the territories of the former Soviet Union. J Vertebr Paleontol 27:87–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO, Sues H-D (2012) Correlation of Late Cretaceous continental vertebrate assemblages in Middle and Central Asia. J Stratigr 36:462–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO, Voronkevich AV (2002) A new crown-group salamander from the Early Cretaceous of Western Siberia. Russ J Herpetol 9:209–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO, Lopatin AV, Skutschas PP, Martynovich NV, Leshchinskiy SV, Rezvyi AS, Krasnolutskii SA, Fayngerts AV (2005) Discovery of middle Jurassic mammals from Siberia. Acta Palaeontol Pol 50:789–797

    Google Scholar 

  • Averianov AO, Martin T, Skutschas PP, Rezvyi AS, Bakirov A (2008) Amphibians from the Middle Jurassic Balabansai Svita in the Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia). Palaeontology 51:471–485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benton MJ (2000) Conventions in Russian and Mongolian palaeontological literature. In: Benton MJ, Shishkin MA, Unwin DM, Kurochkin EN (eds) The age of dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp xvi–xxxix

  • Delfino M, Sala B (2007) Late Pliocene Albanerpetontidae (Lissamphibia) from Italy. J Vertebr Paleontol 27:716–719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeMar D (2013) A new fossil salamander (Caudata: Proteidae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Hell Creek Formation, Montana. J Vertebr Paleontol 33:588–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duellman WE, Trueb L (1986) Biology of amphibians. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffaud S (1995) A Batrachosauroididae (Amphibia, Caudata) from the late Cretaceous of Champ-Garimond (Southern France). First European Workshop on Vertebrate Paleontology, Geological Society of Denmark, DGF On Line Series 1. Available at: http://2dgf.dk/publikationer/dgf_on_line/vol_1/duffaud.html. Accessed 6 Aug 2010

  • Edwards J (1976) Spinal nerves and their bearing on salamander phylogeny. J Morphol 148:305–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estes R (1981) Encyclopedia of paleoherpetology. Part 2A, Gymnophiona, Caudata. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Estes R, Sanchiz B (1982) Early Cretaceous lower vertebrate from Galve (Teruel), Spain. J Vertebr Paleontol 2:21–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans SE, McGowan GJ (2002) An amphibian assemblage from the Purbeck Limestone Group. Spec Pap Palaeontol 68:103–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans SE, Milner AR (1994) Microvertebrate faunas from the Middle Jurassic of Britain. In: Fraser N, Sues HD (eds) In the shadow of the dinosaurs: early Mesozoic tetrapods. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 303–321

  • Evans SE, Milner AR (1996) A metamorphosed salamander from the Early Cretaceous of Las Hoyas, Spain. Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond B 351:627–646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans SE, Waldman M (1996) Small reptiles and amphibians from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland. Mus North Ariz Bull 60:219–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans SE, Milner AR, Mussett F (1988) The earliest known salamanders (Amphibia, Caudata): a record from the Middle Jurassic of England. Geobios 21:539–552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans SE, Milner AR, Werner C (1996) Sirenid salamanders and a gymnophionan amphibian from the Cretaceous of the Sudan. Palaeontology 39:77–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans SE, Lally C, Chure DC, Maisano JA (2005) A Late Jurassic salamander (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Morrison Formation of North America. Zool J Linn Soc 143:599–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao K-Q, Shubin NH (2003) Earliest known crown-group salamanders. Nature 422:424–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao K-Q, Shubin NH (2012) Late Jurassic salamandroid from western Liaoning, China. Proc Natl Acad Sci. doi:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1009828109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao K-Q, Chen J, Jia J (2013) Taxonomic diversity, stratigraphic range, and exceptional preservation of Juro-Cretaceous salamanders from northern China. Can J Earth Sci 50:255–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JD (2001) Monophyly and affinities of albanerpetontid amphibians (Temnospondyli; Lissamphibia). Zool J Linn Soc 131:309–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JD (2012) Revision of Piceoerpeton Meszoely (Caudata: Scapherpetontidae) and description of a new species from the late Maastrichtian and ?early Paleocene of western North America. Bull Soc Géol France 183:611–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JD, Averianov AO (1998) Albanerpetontid amphibians from Middle Asia. Acta Palaeontol Pol 43:453–467

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JD, Böhme M (2008) Review of the Albanerpetontidae (Lissamphibia), with comments on the paleoecological preferences of European Tertiary albanerpetontids. In: Sankey JT, Baszio S (eds) Vertebrate microfossil assemblages: their role in paleoecology and paleobiogeography. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, pp 178–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JD, DeMar DG Jr (2013) Mesozoic and Paleocene lissamphibian assemblages of North America: a comprehensive review. In: Gardner J, Nydam RL (eds) Mesozoic and Cenozoic lissamphibian and squamate assemblages of Laurasia. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 93(4). doi:10.1007/s12549-013-0130-z

  • Goin CJ, Auffenberg W (1958) New salamanders of the family Sirenidae from the Cretaceous of North America. Fieldiana: Geology 10:449–459

    Google Scholar 

  • Holman JA (2006) Fossil salamanders of North America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivakhnenko M (1978) Urodeles from the Triassic and Jurassic of Soviet Central Asia. Palaeontol Zhur 1978:84–89 (in Russian) and Paleontol J 1978:362–368 (in English)

  • Marjanović D, Laurin M (2008) A reevaluation of the evidence supporting an unorthodox hypothesis on the origin of extant amphibians. Contrib Zool 77:149–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR (1983) The biogeography of salamanders in the Mesozoic and Early Caenozoic: a cladistic–vicariance model. In: Sims RW, Price JH, Whalley PES (eds) Evolution, time and space: the emergence of the biosphere, Systematics Assoc Spec 23:431–468

  • Milner AR (2000) Mesozoic and tertiary Caudata and Albanerpetontidae. In: Heatwole H, Carroll RL (eds) Amphibian biology, vol. 4. Palaeontology. Surrey Beaty, Chipping Norton, pp 1413–1444

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesov LA (1981) Cretaceous salamanders and frogs of Kizylkum Desert (in Russian). Proc Zool Inst AS USSR 101:57–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesov LA (1988) Late Mesozoic amphibians and lizards of Soviet Middle Asia. Act Zool Cracovienska 31:475–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesov LA (1997) Cretaceous nonmarine vertebrates of Northern Eurasia (in Russian). Posthumous edition by Golovneva LB, Averianov AO. Izdatel’stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta, Saint Petersburg

  • Nesov LA, Fedorov PV, Potapov DO, Golovnyeva LS (1996) The structure of the skulls of caudate amphibians collected from the Jurassic of Kirgizstan and the Cretaceous of Uzbekistan (in Russian). Vestnik Sankt-Petersburgskogo Universiteta, Seriya 7, Geologiya, Geografiya 1:3–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevo E, Estes R (1969) Ramonellus longispinus, an Early Cretaceous salamander from Israel. Copeia 1969:540–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oreska MPJ, Carrano MT, Dzikiewicz KM (2013) Vertebrate paleontology of the Cloverly Formation (Lower Cretaceous), 1: faunal composition, biogeographic relationships, and sampling. J Vertebr Paleontol 33:264–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rage J-C, Dutheil D (2008) Amphibians and squamates from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Morocco. Palaeontographica Abt A 285:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rage J-C, Marshall LG, Gayet M (1993) Enigmatic Caudata (Amphibia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Gondwana. Geobios 26:515–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruta M, Coates MI (2007) Dates, nodes and character conflict: addressing the lissamphibian origin problem. J Syst Palaeontol 5:67–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shishkin MA (2000) Mesozoic amphibians from Mongolia and the central Asian republics. In: Benton MJ, Shishkin MA, Unwin DM, Kurochkin EN (eds) The age of dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 297–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigurdsen T, Green DM (2011) The origin of modern amphibians: a re-evaluation. Zool J Linn Soc 162:457–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skutschas PP (2006) Mesozoic amphibians from Siberia, Russia. In: Barrett PM, Evans SE (eds) 9th Int Symp on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota. Abstracts and Proceedings Volume, pp 123–126

  • Skutschas PP (2007) New specimens of albanerpetontid amphibians from the Upper Cretaceous of Uzbekistan. Acta Palaeontol Pol 52:819–821

    Google Scholar 

  • Skutschas PP (2009) Re-evaluation of Mynbulakia Nesov, 1981 (Lissamphibia: Caudata) and description of a new salamander genus from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan. J Vertebr Paleontol 29:1–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skutschas PP, Gubin YM (2012) A new salamander from the late Paleocene–early Eocene of Ukraine. Acta Palaeontol Pol 57:135–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skutschas PP, Krasnolutskii SA (2011) A new genus and species of basal salamanders from the Middle Jurassic of Western Siberia, Russia. Proc Zool Inst RAS 315:167–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skutschas P, Martin T (2011) Cranial anatomy of the stem salamander Kokartus honorarius (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Middle Jurassic of Kyrgyzstan. Zool J Linn Soc 161:816–838

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweetman SC, Gardner JD (2013) A new albanerpetontid amphibian from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Acta Palaeontol Pol 58:295–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Szentesi Z, Gardner JD, Venczel M (2013) Albanerpetontid amphibians from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) of Iharkút, Hungary, with remarks on regional differences in Late Cretaceous Laurasian amphibian assemblages. Can J Earth Sci 50:268–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Dong LP, Evans SE (2010) Jurassic-Cretaceous herpetofaunas from the Jehol associated strata in NE China: evolutionary and ecological implications. Bull Chin Acad Sci 24:76–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiechmann MF (2000) The albanerpetontids from the Guimarota mine. In: Martin T, Krebs B (eds) Guimarota: a Jurassic ecosystem. Verlag Dr. Friedrich. Pfeil, Munich, pp 51–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Zang P, Wake DB (2009) Higher-level salamander relationships and divergence dates inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes. Mol Phylogenet Evol 53(2009):492–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang G, Wang Y, Jones MEH, Evans SE (2009) A new Early Cretaceous salamander (Regalerpeton weichangensis gen. et sp. nov.) from the Huajiying Formation of northeastern China. Cretaceous Res 30:551–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank all the members of expeditions in Middle Asia, Kazakhstan and Siberia for their help. I am grateful to: J. D. Gardner (Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Canada) for organising the symposium “Insights from the Fossil Record into the Evolution of Extant Amphibians and Reptiles” at the Seventh World Congress of Herpetology in Vancouver, Canada, and for his invitations to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum and to contribute this issue; to the Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society (Drumheller, Canada) for providing financial support for my visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum; to A. O. Averianov (Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia) for reading and providing helpful comments on an early version of this paper; and to J. D. Gardner (Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Canada) and A. R. Milner (Natural History Museum, London, UK) for reviewing the submitted version of this paper. My studies of Mesozoic salamanders have been funded by the following agencies and grants: the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant MA 1643/14-1 and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 11-04-91331-NNIO) for studies of Siberian Middle Jurassic salamanders; a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a Return Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation (Germany) for study of Kokartus; a Return Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation(Germany) and the Paleontological Society International Research Program (Sepkoski Grants 2010) (USA) for studies of Middle Asian Late Cretaceous salamanders.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pavel P. Skutschas.

Additional information

This article is a contribution to the special issue “Mesozoic and Cenozoic lissamphibian and squamate assemblages of Laurasia”

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Skutschas, P.P. Mesozoic salamanders and albanerpetontids of Middle Asia, Kazakhstan, and Siberia. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 93, 441–457 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-013-0126-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-013-0126-8

Keywords

Navigation