Basal Cryptobranchid Jurassic Salamander Fossil

Description: The Daohuguo Beds on Inner Mongolia have yielded several Mesozoic salamanders related to those extant today. This one is a member of the Cryptobranchidae, the family to which the modern-day Asian giant salamander Andrias, and the Hellbender Cryptobranchus of the southern United States belong. The genus derives its name from the Cretaceous Jehol biota to which it was first thought to belong. Subsequently it was determined that these beds were older at Middle/Late Jurassic in age. The fossil salamanders from these deposits go a long way to answering questions about the evolution of these remarkable amphibians. Note the fine details preserved here in the skull, the vertebral column, and the outline of the tail, along with some limb elements. The unusual skull earned the species the name paradoxus. Few such examples are ever available..