Discovery of a crown salamander in the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Moskvoretskaya formation of the Moscow Region, Russia

ABSTRACT

Crown salamanders first appeared in the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) and remains of these oldest representatives of the group have been found in various vertebrate localities in China, Western Siberia, and Western Europe. Here, we report the discovery of an indeterminate crown salamander in the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Peski locality of Moskvoretskaya Formation of the Moscow Region, Russia. This find (a fragmentary trunk vertebra) represents (1) new occurrence of the oldest crown salamanders; and (2) the first fossil record of crown salamanders in the Middle Jurassic of Eastern Europe. The trunk vertebra from the Peski locality resembles those of the modern crown salamanders of the Salamandroidea clade in the presence of spinal nerve foramina and bicapitate transverse processes. If our assignment of the Peski salamander to Salamandroidea is correct, then it is the oldest salamandroid in the fossil record.

KEYWORDS:

• Caudata
• salamandroidea
• middle jurassic
• bathonian
• Moscow region
• Russia

Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Saint Petersburg State University Research Centre for X-ray Diffraction Studies (Saint Petersburg, Russia) for CT scanning of the specimen.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work of PPS and VVK was fulfilled under financial support of the Russian Science Foundation (project 19-14-00020-P). The work of AGS was supported by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (project 20–04–00070). The work of EVS was partly supported by the theme of the Zoological Institute of RAS (1021051302397-6).