Jeholotriton

Jeholotriton
Temporal range: Middle or Late Jurassic, 164 Ma
Fossil specimen, Geological Museum of China
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Urodela
Suborder: Cryptobranchoidea
Genus: Jeholotriton
Wang, 2000
Type species
Jeholotriton paradoxus
Wang, 2000

Jeholotriton is a genus of primitive salamander from the Daohugou Beds (possibly dating to the late Jurassic period) near Daohugou village of Inner Mongolia, China.

Paratype (IVPP V11984), Paleozoological Museum of China

Wang Yuan from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences first described the species in 2000.[1] In 2005, he presented a full description in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology along with C. S. Rose from James Madison University, United States.[2]

The genus name "Jehol-" refers to Jehol Biota, which flourished during the Early Cretaceous in northeastern China. The original naming paper (Wang, 2000) regarded the salamander a member of the biota, but recent studies reveals this fossil-bearing Daohugou Beds is lower, Middle/Late Jurassic in age. The specific name "paradoxus" refers to the strange skull morphology of the animal.

  1. ^ Wang Yuan (2000). "A new salamander (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota" (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica (in Chinese and English). 38 (2): 100–103.
  2. ^ Wang Yuan; Rose, Christopher S. (2005). "Jeholotriton paradoxus (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Lower Cretaceous of southeastern Inner Mongolia, China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25 (3): 523–532. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0523:jpacft]2.0.co;2.