Albanerpetontidae
| Albanerpetontidae Temporal range: Bathonian–Piacenzian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration of Albanerpeton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | †Allocaudata |
| Family: | †Albanerpetontidae Fox and Naylor, 1982 |
| Genera | |
Albanerpetontidae is an extinct family of superficially salamander-like lissamphibians. Albanerpetontids include four genera – Albanerpeton, Anoualerpeton, Celtedens, and Wesserpeton – and between 10 and 20 known species, spanning about 160 million years from the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic to the end of the Pliocene, about 2.5 million years ago.[1] Albanerpetontids were long thought to be salamanders because of their small size and generalized body plans.[2] However, these features are now thought to be ancestral for lissamphibians and not indicative of close relationships between the two groups. One of the things that made them different from salamanders was that their skin was covered with bony scales.[3] Albanerpetontids are now recognized as a distinct clade of lissamphibians separate from the three living orders of amphibians – Anura (frogs), Caudata (salamanders), and Gymnophiona (caecilians). They are thought to be more closely related to frogs and salamanders than to caecilians.[4]
References
- ↑ Gardner, J.D.; Böhme, M. (2008). Sankey, J.T. & Baszio, S., ed. Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages: Their Role in Paleoecology and Paleobiogeography. (PDF). Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 178–218. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ↑ Duellman, W.E. & Trueb, L. (1994): Biology of amphibians. The Johns Hopkins University Press
- ↑ Wesserpeton evansae: making 'albanerpetontid' a household name
- ↑ Gardner, J. D. (2001). "Monophyly and affinities of albanerpetontid amphibians (Temnospondyli; Lissamphibia)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 131 (3): 309–352. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2001.tb02240.x.