idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instance:
Share on: 
05/11/2020 22:30

A Triassic stem-salamander from Kyrgyzstan and the origin of salamanders

Meike Rech Presse
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart

    Stuttgart, Germany, 11.05.2020. The origin of extant amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) remains largely obscure. This results from the long evolutionary history of the group (330 million years) as well as their tiny size, which makes their fossil preservation difficult. A new find from Kyrgyzstan in Inner Asia has now been recognized as most ancient salamander in the world.

    Paleontologists from Germany, Dr. Rainer Schoch – expert on fossil amphibians and early reptiles at the State Museum of Natural History, Stuttgart –, Dr. Ralf Werneburg and Dr. Sebastian Voigt were able to show in a paper appearing on May 11, 2020 that the new, 220 million year old Kyrgyz fossil and an existing skeleton in a Moscow collection pertain to the same species, Triassurus sixtelae.
    Based on new data on the recent discovery, Triassurus reveals diagnostic salamander features that make the Kyrgyz species the oldest and most primitive salamander. Besides salamander features, Triassurus also shares characters with ancient amphibians, pointing at the origin of all modern amphibians. Triassurus dwelled a freshwater lake millions of years before the first dinosaurs appeared on Earth.

    The paper is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).


    Original publication:

    Rainer R. Schoch, Ralf Werneburg & Sebastian Voigt: A Triassic stem-salamander from Kyrgyzstan and the origin of salamanders in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Published: 11.05.2020


    More information:

    http://www.naturkundemuseum-bw.de


    Images

    Dr. Rainer Schoch with the prehistoric salamander Triassurus
    Dr. Rainer Schoch with the prehistoric salamander Triassurus
    SMNS, T. Wilhelm
    SMNS


    Attachment
    attachment icon Press release Triassurus sixtelae, SMNS

    Criteria of this press release:
    Journalists
    Biology
    transregional, national
    Scientific Publications
    English


     

    Dr. Rainer Schoch with the prehistoric salamander Triassurus


    For download

    x

    Help

    Search / advanced search of the idw archives
    Combination of search terms

    You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.

    Brackets

    You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).

    Phrases

    Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.

    Selection criteria

    You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).

    If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).