Pangerpeton
Pangerpeton is an extinct genus of salamanders. Its monotypic species is Pangerpeton sinensis.
Pangerpeton | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Urodela |
Suborder: | Cryptobranchoidea |
Genus: | †Pangerpeton Wang & Evans, 2006 |
Type species | |
†Pangerpeton sinensis Wang & Evans, 2006 |
Pangerpeton is a metamorphosed, primitive salamander from the Late Jurassic Daohugou fossil bed near Wubaiding Village of Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, China. It is part of the Yanliao Biota.
Yuan Wang and Susan E. Evans (2006)[1] named this new taxon with a phylogenetic analysis of caudates at familial level including fossil taxa, such as Marmorerpeton, Karaurus, Jeholotriton, Chunerpeton, Liaoxitriton, Iridotriton, and Valdotriton. The analysis placed Pangerpeton as a sister taxon to Jeholotriton from the equivalent fossil bed, and the two are close to the base of crown−group Urodela either just outside it or just within.
This Jurassic amphibian is characterized by its short trunk (only 14 presacrals) and short and wide head, giving a fat body shape, from which the genus name was derived ("Pang" means fat in Chinese).
See also
- Prehistoric amphibian
- List of prehistoric amphibians
References
- 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.