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Extinct genus of amphibians
Karaurus
(meaning
head-tail
) is an extinct genus of
stem-group
salamander
(
Caudata
) from the Middle to Late Jurassic (
Callovian
?
Kimmeridgian
)
Karabastau Formation
of
Kazakhstan
. It is one of the oldest salamanders known.
Karaurus
was large for a Jurassic salamander, about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, and very similar anatomically to modern salamanders.
Karaurus
is thought to have fed using
suction feeding
via the enlargement of the
buccal cavity
on small fish and invertebrates, with the well-developed palatal dentition (teeth on the roof of the mouth) and marginal teeth helping to grasp prey.
[2]
Karaurus
is thought to form a clade with
Kokartus
from the Middle Jurassic (
Bathonian
) of Kyrgyzstan, and
Marmorerpeton
from the Bathonian of Britain, together forming the
Karauridae
, which are closely related to crown salamanders.
[3]
Like other members of Karauridae,
Karaurus
is
neotenic
.
[2]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"†
Karaurus
Ivachnenko 1978"
.
Paleobiology Database
. Fossilworks
. Retrieved
17 December
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Skutschas, Pavel; Martin, Thomas (April 2011).
"Cranial anatomy of the stem salamander Kokartus honorarius (Amphibia: Caudata) from the Middle Jurassic of Kyrgyzstan: SKULL OF JURASSIC STEM SALAMANDER"
.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
.
161
(4): 816?838.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00663.x
.
- ^
Jones, Marc E. H.; Benson, Roger B. J.; Skutschas, Pavel; Hill, Lucy; Panciroli, Elsa; Schmitt, Armin D.; Walsh, Stig A.; Evans, Susan E. (2022-07-11).
"Middle Jurassic fossils document an early stage in salamander evolution"
.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
.
119
(30): e2114100119.
Bibcode
:
2022PNAS..11914100J
.
doi
:
10.1073/pnas.2114100119
.
ISSN
0027-8424
.
PMC
9335269
.
PMID
35858401
.