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Isolation of Giant Lampbrush Chromosomes from Living Oocytes of Frogs and Salamanders
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Earliest known crown-group salamanders.

Ke-Qin Gao1, Neil H Shubin

  • 1School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

Nature
|March 28, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Fossil salamanders from Middle Jurassic China reveal the earliest known crown-group urodeles. This discovery pushes back the fossil record of Cryptobranchidae by 100 million years.

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Area of Science:

  • Paleontology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Vertebrate Zoology

Background:

  • Salamanders are key models for understanding the evolution of new anatomical structures.
  • Recent Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous salamander discoveries inform evolutionary studies.
  • The fossil record of early salamanders, particularly crown-group urodeles, remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To report the discovery of exceptionally preserved Middle Jurassic salamanders from China.
  • To establish the earliest known fossil record of crown-group urodeles (living salamanders and their closest relatives).
  • To investigate the evolutionary history and biogeography of early salamander families.

Main Methods:

  • Excavation and analysis of fossil specimens from the Jiulongshan Formation (Bathonian), Inner Mongolia, China.
  • Paleontological identification and phylogenetic placement of the newly discovered salamanders.
  • Comparison of fossil data with existing knowledge of salamander evolution and fossil records.

Main Results:

  • Discovery of well-preserved Middle Jurassic salamanders, representing the earliest known crown-group urodeles.
  • Identification of these fossils as basal members of the Cryptobranchidae family.
  • The findings extend the Mesozoic record of Cryptobranchidae by approximately 100 million years, predating previous records.

Conclusions:

  • The discovery provides critical evidence for the early evolution and diversification of urodeles in the Middle Jurassic.
  • It supports the hypothesis that the Cryptobranchidae and Hynobiidae lineages diverged in Asia before the Middle Jurassic.
  • These fossils significantly enhance our understanding of early salamander evolution and the origins of modern amphibian diversity.