BETA TEST - Fossil data and pages are very much experimental and under development. Please report any problems
Albanerpetontidae ✝
| Description | The Albanerpetontidae are an extinct family of superficially salamander-like batrachians. Albanerpetontids include five genera – Albanerpeton, Anoualerpeton, Celtedens, Shirerpeton and Wesserpeton – and between 10 and 20 known species, spanning about 160 million years from the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic to the beginning of the Pleistocene, about 2.13-2 million years ago. Albanerpetontids were long thought to be salamanders because of their small size and generalized body plans. 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. 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). Some studies show them as more closely related to frogs and salamanders than to caecilians, while others show them to be outside of the lissamphibian crown-group. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanerpetontidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source Data |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | family | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Amphibia : Gymnophiona : Albanerpetontidae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Osteichthyes : Temnospondyli : Albanerpetontidae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific Name | Albanerpetontidae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status (PBDB) | extinct | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 168 - 166 Ma Middle Jurassic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Recorded Appearance | 3.20 - 2.59 Ma Cenozoic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | brackish,freshwater,terrestrial (based on Tetrapoda) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | actively mobile (based on Temnospondyli) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | carnivore (based on Temnospondyli) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | phosphatic (based on Vertebrata) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | R. C. Fox and B. G. Naylor. 1982. A reconsideration of the relationships of the fossil amphibian Albanerpeton. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19:118-128 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanerpetontidae |
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanerpeton ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 141 | 130 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 3.20 Ma Pliocene | |
| Anoualerpeton ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 6 | 168 Ma Middle Jurassic | 145 Ma Late Jurassic | |
| Celtedens ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 9 | 161 Ma Jurassic | 70.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | |
| Nukusurus ✝ genus | listed (PBDB) | 2 | 99.6 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | 93.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | |
| Shirerpeton ✝ genus | listed (PBDB) | 1 | 140 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 140 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
| Wesserpeton ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 2 | 129 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 129 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous |
Obsolete Names
| Name | Source | Taxon Rank | Taxonomy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nukusurus insuetus Nessov, 1981 | GBIF | species | Animalia : Chordata : Amphibia : Gymnophiona : Albanerpetontidae : Nukusurus insuetus |
| Nukusurus sodalis Nessov, 1997 | GBIF | species | Animalia : Chordata : Amphibia : Gymnophiona : Albanerpetontidae : Nukusurus sodalis |
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 1982 | Albanerpetontidae Fox and Naylor p. 120 |
| 1995 | Albanerpetontidae McGowan and Evans |
| 1999 | Albanerpetontidae Gardner p. 531 |
| 2000 | Albanerpetontidae Gardner p. 65 |
| 2001 | Albanerpetontidae Gardner p. 334 fig. 8 |
| 2001 | Albanerpetontidae Peng et al. p. 22 |
| 2002 | Albanerpetontidae Böhme p. 340 |
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Albanerpetontidae Gardner et al. p. 302 |
| 2008 | Albanerpetontidae Anderson et al. p. 517 |
| 2008 | Albanerpetontidae Böhme p. 165 |
| 2010 | Albanerpetontidae Böhme p. 10 |
| 2012 | Albanerpetontidae Maddin et al. |
| 2018 | Albanerpetontidae Matsumoto and Evans p. 6 |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
