2020 in amphibian paleontology explained
This list of fossil amphibians described in 2020 is a list of new taxa of fossil amphibians that were described during the year 2020, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to amphibian paleontology that occurred in 2020.
New taxa
Others
Research
- A study on the evolution of terrestrial locomotion in early tetrapods, based on data from 40 three-dimensionally preserved humeri from extinct tetrapodomorphs spanning the fin-to-limb transition, is published by Dickson et al. (2020).[18]
- A study aiming to determine the potential significance of tides for the evolution of bony fish and early tetrapods from the Late Silurian to early Late Devonian is published by Byrne et al. (2020).[19]
- A fibula of a member of the family Crassigyrinidae (otherwise known from the Viséan) is described from the Tournaisian of Blue Beach (Nova Scotia, Canada) by Lennie, Mansky & Anderson (2020).[20]
- A study on the bone histology of Dvinosaurus campbelli is published by Uliakhin, Skutschas & Saburov (2020).[21]
- A study evaluating the effects of ontogenetic disparity of known trematopid specimens on reconstructions of the phylogenetic relationships of trematopids is published by Gee (2020).[22]
- Redescription of Actiobates peabodyi, including an updated description of the skull and the first description of the postcranial skeleton, is published by Gee & Reisz (2020).[23]
- A study on the suture pattern in the skull and on the mandible anatomy of Cacops aspidephorus is published by Anderson, Scott & Reisz (2020).[24]
- New amphibamiform specimen with exceptionally preserved lissamphibian-like integumentary structures, including the first evidence of toepad structures in a temnospondyl body fossil, is described from the Mazon Creek fossil beds by Mann & Gee (2020).[25]
- Description of the anatomy of the skull of Pasawioops mayi, and a study on the ontogeny of this taxon, is published by Atkins et al. (2020).[26]
- A study on growth patterns in Doleserpeton annectens, as indicated by bone histology, is published by Gee, Haridy & Reisz (2020).[27]
- A study on a specimen of Benthosuchus korobkovi from the Olenekian of Russia affected by a neoplastic bone lesion in its jaw, representing the earliest case of such lesion in a tetrapod reported so far, is published by Novikov et al. (2020), who propose a non-odontogenic osteoma as the most likely diagnosis.[28]
- Redescription and a study on the phylogenetic relationships of Aphaneramma kokeni is published by Maisch (2020), who considers A. kokeni to be a valid taxon.[29]
- A study on the impact of local climatic and environmental conditions on growth patterns of the skeleton of Panthasaurus maleriensis is published by Teschner et al. (2020).[30]
- Evidence of the presence of five metacarpals in a specimen of Metoposaurus krasiejowensis from the Upper Triassic of Poland is presented by Konietzko‐Meier et al. (2020), who interpret this finding as evidence of pentadactyly of the manus of M. krasiejowensis, showing that the presence of a five-digit manus among Temnospondyli was possible.[31]
- New fossil material of albanerpetontids is described from the lower Campanian Aguja Formation (Texas, United States) by Wick (2020), who interprets this finding as indicating that albanerpetontids were locally abundant there and also widespread throughout much of the Western Interior of North America by early Campanian time.[32]
- A review of the caecilian fossil record is published by Santos, Laurin & Zaher (2020).[33]
- New specimen of Triassurus sixtelae is described from the Triassic of Kyrgyzstan by Schoch, Werneburg & Voigt (2020), who identify this species as the oldest known stem-group salamander.[34]
- A study on the skeletal anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Chunerpeton tianyiense is published by Rong et al. (2020).[35]
- A study on the diversity of skull shape in extant and fossil ribbed and crocodile newts, the relationship between their skull shape and ecological and reproductive traits, and its implications for the knowledge of the ecology of Chelotriton, is published by Pogoda et al. (2020).[36]
- New pipimorph fossil material, providing new information on the morphological diversity among the earliest pipimorphs in South America, is described from the Aptian Crato Formation (Brazil) by Báez, Muzzopappa & Moura (2020), who also redescribe Cratopipa novaolindensis.[37]
- Right ilium and a skull bone of a frog belonging to the genus Calyptocephalella are reported from the Eocene (Bartonian) La Meseta Formation (Antarctica) by Mörs, Reguero & Vasilyan (2020), representing the first record of a lissamphibian in Antarctica reported so far.[38]
- Partial humerus of a member of the genus Eleutherodactylus is described from the Oligocene San Sebastian Formation (Puerto Rico) by Blackburn et al. (2020), representing the earliest fossil frog from any Caribbean island reported so far.[39]
- Redescription of the anatomy and a study on the phylogenetic relationships of Eldeceeon rolfei is published by Ruta, Clack & Smithson (2020).[40]
- A study on the long bone histology, growth rate and the timing of the attainment of sexual maturity in seymouriamorphs is published by Jordi Estefa et al. (2020).[41]
- A study on the anatomy of the braincase and otic capsule of Seymouria is published by Bazzana et al. (2020).[42]
- Description of new postcranial material of Seymouria from the Richards Spur locality (Oklahoma, United States), and a study on bone histology, life histories and evolution of terrestriality of seymouriamorphs, is published by Bazzana et al. (2020).[43]
- A study on the anatomy of the skull of Euryodus dalyae, providing new information on the anatomy of the braincase and mandible, is published by Gee, Bevitt & Reisz (2020).[44]
- Description of the anatomy of the braincase and stapes of Diadectes absitus is published by Klembara et al. (2020).[45]
Notes and References
- B. I. Morkovin . 2020 . A new benthosuchid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Lower Triassic of the Moscow Syncline . Paleontological Journal . 54 . 4 . 401–409 . 10.1134/S0031030120040176 . 2020PalJ...54..401M . 221161848 . 2021-01-09 . 2021-01-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210111011756/https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=42890267 . live .
- David W. Dilkes . 2020 . Revision of the Early Permian Dissorophid Dissorophus angustus (Temnospondyli: Dissorophoidea) . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 40 . 4 . e1801704 . 10.1080/02724634.2020.1801704 . 2020JVPal..40E1704D . 225148088 .
- Ralf Werneburg . Stanislav Štamberg . Jean-Sébastien Steyer . 2020 . A new stereospondylomorph, Korkonterpeton kalnense gen. et sp. nov., from lower Permian of the Czech Krkonoše Piedmont Basin and a redescription of Intasuchus silvicola from the lower Permian of Russia (Temnospondyli, Amphibia) . Fossil Imprint . 76 . 2 . 217–242 . 10.37520/fi.2020.019 . free .
- Rainer R. Schoch . Amy C. Henrici . Robert W. Hook . 2020 . A new dissorophoid temnospondyl from the Allegheny Group (late Carboniferous) of Five Points, Mahoning County, Ohio (USA) . Journal of Paleontology . 95 . 3 . 638–651 . 10.1017/jpa.2020.101 . 230607719 .
- Eliseu Vieira Dias . Sérgio Dias-da-Silva . Cesar Leandro Schultz . 2020 . A new short-snouted rhinesuchid from the Permian of southern Brazil . Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia . 23 . 2 . 98–122 . 10.4072/rbp.2020.2.03 . free . 10183/229929 . free .
- Juan D. Daza. Edward L. Stanley. Arnau Bolet. Aaron M. Bauer. J. Salvador Arias. Andrej Čerňanský. Joseph J. Bevitt. Philipp Wagner. Susan E. Evans. 2020. Enigmatic amphibians in mid-Cretaceous amber were chameleon-like ballistic feeders. Science. 370. 6517. 687–691. 10.1126/science.abb6005. 33154135. 2020Sci...370..687D. 226254862. 2021-01-09. 2021-01-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20210111004742/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10114312/. live.
- Paula Muzzopappa . Agustín G. Martinelli . Juan P. Garderes . Guillermo W. Rougier . 2020 . Exceptional avian pellet from the Paleocene of Patagonia and description of its content: a new species of calyptocephalellid (Neobatrachia) anuran . Papers in Palaeontology . 7 . 2 . 1133–1146 . 10.1002/spp2.1333 . free .
- Lucas A. Barcelos . Diego Almeida-Silva . Charles M. D. Santos . Vanessa K. Verdade . 2020 . Description of a new species of fossil Ceratophrys (Anura: Ceratophryidae) from Versalles Cave, São Paulo, Brazil . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 40 . 3 . e1811293 . 10.1080/02724634.2020.1811293 . 2020JVPal..40E1293B . 225136948 .
- Federico Agnolin . Ismar Souza Carvalho . Alexis M. Aranciaga Rolando . Fernando E. Novas . José Xavier-Neto . José Artur Ferreira Gomes Andrade . Francisco Idalécio Freitas . 2020 . Early Cretaceous neobatrachian frog (Anura) from Brazil sheds light on the origin of modern anurans . Journal of South American Earth Sciences . 101 . Article 102633 . 10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102633 . 2020JSAES.10102633A . 218957427 .
- Pavel P. Skutschas . Veniamin V. Kolchanov . Achim H. Schwermann . 2020 . First salamander from the Lower Cretaceous of Germany . Cretaceous Research . 116 . Article 104606 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104606 . 2020CrRes.11604606S . 225440583 .
- Pavel Skutschas . Veniamin Kolchanov . Sergey Krasnolutskii . Alexander Averianov . Rico Schellhorn . Julia Schultz . Thomas Martin . 2020 . A new small-sized stem salamander from the Middle Jurassic of Western Siberia, Russia . PLOS ONE . 15 . 2 . e0228610 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0228610 . 32074114 . 7029856 . 2020PLoSO..1528610S . free .
- Davit Vasilyan . Vadym Yanenko . 2020 . The last Palaeoproteus (Urodela: Batrachosauroididae) of Europe . Scientific Reports . 10 . 1 . Article number 2733 . 10.1038/s41598-020-59255-1 . 32066790 . 7026125 . 2020NatSR..10.2733V .
- Per E. Ahlberg. Jennifer A. Clack. 2020. The smallest known Devonian tetrapod shows unexpectedly derived features. Royal Society Open Science. 7. 4. Article ID 192117. 2020RSOS....792117A. 10.1098/rsos.192117. 7211834. 32431888.
- V. V. Bulanov. 2020. A new Leptoropha (Kotlassiidae, Seymouriamorpha) species from the Upper Urzhumian of European Russia. Paleontological Journal. 54. 3. 290–296. 10.1134/S0031030120030053. 2020PalJ...54..290B . 219959325. 2021-01-09. 2021-01-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20210112020848/https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=42725919. live.
- V. V. Bulanov. 2020. A new kotlassiid (Amphibia, Seymouriamorpha) from the terminal Permian of Eastern Europe. Paleontological Journal. 54. 7. 757–768. 10.1134/S0031030120070035. 2020PalJ...54..757B . 229292215.
- Jianye Chen. Jun Liu. 2020. The youngest occurrence of embolomeres (Tetrapoda: Anthracosauria) from the Sunjiagou Formation (Lopingian, Permian) of North China. Fossil Record. 23. 2. 205–213. 10.5194/fr-23-205-2020. 2020FossR..23..205C . free.
- Arjan Mann. Bryan M. Gee. Jason D. Pardo. David Marjanović. Gabrielle R. Adams. Ami S. Calthorpe. Hillary C. Maddin. Jason S. Anderson. 2020. Reassessment of historic 'microsaurs' from Joggins, Nova Scotia, reveals hidden diversity in the earliest amniote ecosystem. Papers in Palaeontology. 6. 4. 605–625. 10.1002/spp2.1316. 2020PPal....6..605M . 218925814.
- Blake V. Dickson . Jennifer A. Clack . Timothy R. Smithson . Stephanie E. Pierce . 2020 . Functional adaptive landscapes predict terrestrial capacity at the origin of limbs . Nature . 589 . 7841 . 242–245 . 10.1038/s41586-020-2974-5 . 33239789 . 227176144 .
- H. M. Byrne . J. A. M. Green . S. A. Balbus . P. E. Ahlberg . 2020 . Tides: A key environmental driver of osteichthyan evolution and the fish-tetrapod transition? . Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences . 476 . 2242 . Article ID 20200355 . 10.1098/rspa.2020.0355 . 33223936 . 7655770 . 2020RSPSA.47600355B .
- Kendra I. Lennie . Chris F. Mansky . Jason S. Anderson . 2020 . New Crassigyrinus-like fibula from the Tournaisian (earliest Carboniferous) of Nova Scotia . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 57 . 11. 1365–1369. 10.1139/cjes-2019-0128 . 2020CaJES..57.1365L . 225160164 .
- A. V. Uliakhin . P. P. Skutschas . P. G. Saburov . 2020 . Histology of Dvinosaurus campbelli (Temnospondyli, Dvinosauria) from the Late Permian locality Gorokhovets, Vladimir Region . Paleontological Journal . 54 . 6 . 632–639 . 10.1134/S0031030120060106 . 2020PalJ...54..632U . 227131135 . 2021-01-09 . 2021-10-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211027213443/https://www.elibrary.ru/ip_restricted.asp?rpage=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eelibrary%2Eru%2Fitem%2Easp%3Fid%3D43961965 . live .
- Bryan M. Gee . 2020 . Size matters: the effects of ontogenetic disparity on the phylogeny of Trematopidae (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 190 . 1 . 79–113. 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz170 .
- Bryan M. Gee . Robert R. Reisz . 2020 . A redescription of the late Carboniferous trematopid Actiobates peabodyi from Garnett, Kansas . The Anatomical Record . 303 . 11 . 2821–2838 . 10.1002/ar.24381 . 32003550 . 210982434 . free .
- Jason S. Anderson . Diane Scott . Robert R. Reisz . 2020 . The anatomy of the dermatocranium and mandible of Cacops aspidephorus Williston, 1910 (Temnospondyli: Dissorophidae), from the Lower Permian of Texas . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 40 . 2 . e1776720 . 10.1080/02724634.2020.1776720 . 2020JVPal..40E6720A . 222213227 . 1880/113830 . free .
- Arjan Mann . Bryan M. Gee . 2020 . Lissamphibian-like toepads in an exceptionally preserved amphibamiform from Mazon Creek . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 39 . 6 . e1727490 . 10.1080/02724634.2019.1727490 . 216173387 .
- Jade B. Atkins . Peter Sourges . Nadia B. Fröbisch . Robert R. Reisz . Hillary C. Maddin . 2020 . Late ontogeny in the small Early Permian amphibamiform dissorophoid Pasawioops mayi . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 40 . 2 . e1772800 . 10.1080/02724634.2020.1772800 . 2020JVPal..40E2800A . 222210249 .
- Bryan M. Gee . . Robert R. Reisz . 2020 . Histological skeletochronology indicates developmental plasticity in the early Permian stem lissamphibian Doleserpeton annectens . Ecology and Evolution . 10 . 4 . 2153–2169 . 10.1002/ece3.6054 . 32128146 . 7042763 . 2020EcoEv..10.2153G .
- I. V. Novikov . P. A. Haiduk . A. V. Gribanov . А. N. Ivanov . А. V. Novikov . I. A. Starodubtseva . 2020 . The earliest case of neoplastic bone lesion in tetrapods . Paleontological Journal . 54 . 1 . 68–72 . 10.1134/S0031030120010074 . 2020PalJ...54...68N . 212938753 . 2021-01-09 . 2021-01-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210112031659/https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=41695139 . live .
- Michael W. Maisch . 2020 . Aphaneramma kokeni (von Huene, 1920), a lonchorhynchine trematosaurid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Lower Triassic of Pakistan . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen . 295 . 3 . 211–241 . 10.1127/njgpa/2020/0879 . 216325073 .
- Elżbieta M. Teschner . Sanjukta Chakravorti . Dhurjati P. Sengupta . Dorota Konietzko-Meier . 2020 . Climatic influence on the growth pattern of Panthasaurus maleriensis from the Late Triassic of India deduced from paleohistology . PeerJ . 8 . e9868 . 10.7717/peerj.9868 . 33194360 . 7485487 . free .
- Dorota Konietzko‐Meier . Elżbieta M. Teschner . Adam Bodzioch . P. Martin Sander . 2020 . Pentadactyl manus of the Metoposaurus krasiejowensis from the Late Triassic of Poland, the first record of pentadactyly among Temnospondyli . Journal of Anatomy . 237 . 6. 1151–1161. 10.1111/joa.13276 . 32707603 . 7704227 . 225501640 .
- Steven L. Wick . 2020 . Albanerpetontids (Lissamphibia, Albanerpetontidae) from the Aguja Formation (lower Campanian) of West Texas, USA . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 58 . 2 . 141–149. 10.1139/cjes-2020-0071 . 225381667 .
- Rodolfo Otávio Santos . Michel Laurin . Hussam Zaher . 2020 . A review of the fossil record of caecilians (Lissamphibia: Gymnophionomorpha) with comments on its use to calibrate molecular timetrees . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . 131 . 4 . 737–755 . 10.1093/biolinnean/blaa148 . free .
- Rainer R. Schoch . Ralf Werneburg . Sebastian Voigt . 2020 . A Triassic stem-salamander from Kyrgyzstan and the origin of salamanders . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 117 . 21 . 11584–11588 . 10.1073/pnas.2001424117 . 32393623 . 7261083 . 2020PNAS..11711584S . free .
- Yu-Fen Rong . Davit Vasilyan . Li-Ping Dong . Yuan Wang . 2020 . Revision of Chunerpeton tianyiense (Lissamphibia, Caudata): is it a cryptobranchid salamander? . Palaeoworld . 30 . 4 . 708–723 . 10.1016/j.palwor.2020.12.001 . free .
- Peter Pogoda . Marcus Zuber . Tilo Baumbach . Rainer R. Schoch . Alexander Kupfer . 2020 . Cranial shape evolution of extant and fossil crocodile newts and its relation to reproduction and ecology . Journal of Anatomy . 237 . 2 . 285–300 . 10.1111/joa.13201 . 32297321 . 7369190 .
- Ana M. Báez . Paula Muzzopappa . Geraldo J. Barbosa de Moura . 2020 . The earliest records of pipimorph frogs from South America (Aptian, Crato Formation, Brazil): A critical evaluation . Cretaceous Research . 121 . Article 104728 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104728 . 230581615 .
- Thomas Mörs . Marcelo Reguero . Davit Vasilyan . 2020 . First fossil frog from Antarctica: implications for Eocene high latitude climate conditions and Gondwanan cosmopolitanism of Australobatrachia . Scientific Reports . 10 . 1 . Article number 5051 . 10.1038/s41598-020-61973-5 . 32327670 . 7181706 . 2020NatSR..10.5051M .
- David C. Blackburn . Rachel M. Keeffe . María C. Vallejo-Pareja . Jorge Vélez-Juarbe . 2020 . The earliest record of Caribbean frogs: a fossil coquí from Puerto Rico . Biology Letters . 16 . 4 . Article ID 20190947 . 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0947 . 32264782 . 7211465 .
- Marcello Ruta . Jennifer A. Clack . Timothy R. Smithson . 2020 . A review of the stem amniote Eldeceeon rolfei from the Viséan of East Kirkton, Scotland . Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . 111 . 3 . 173–192 . 10.1017/S1755691020000079 . 2020EESTR.111..173R . free .
- Jordi Estefa . Jozef Klembara . Paul Tafforeau . Sophie Sanchez . 2020 . Limb-bone development of seymouriamorphs: implications for the evolution of growth strategy in stem amniotes . Frontiers in Earth Science . 8 . Article 97 . 10.3389/feart.2020.00097 . 2020FrEaS...8...97E . 215756014 . free .
- Kayla D. Bazzana . Bryan M. Gee . Joseph J. Bevitt . Robert R. Reisz . 2020 . Neurocranial anatomy of Seymouria from Richards Spur, Oklahoma . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 39 . 5 . e1694535 . 10.1080/02724634.2019.1694535 . 213842156 .
- Kayla D. Bazzana . Bryan M. Gee . Joseph J. Bevitt . Robert R. Reisz . 2020 . Postcranial anatomy and histology of Seymouria, and the terrestriality of seymouriamorphs . PeerJ . 8 . e8698 . 10.7717/peerj.8698 . 32195050 . 7069408 . free .
- Bryan M. Gee . Joseph J. Bevitt . Robert R. Reisz . 2020 . Computed tomographic analysis of the cranium of the early Permian recumbirostran 'microsaur' Euryodus dalyae reveals new details of the braincase and mandible . Papers in Palaeontology . 7 . 2 . 721–749 . 10.1002/spp2.1304 . 216359488 .
- Jozef Klembara . Miroslav Hain . Andrej Čerňanský . David S. Berman . Amy C. Henrici . 2020 . Anatomy of the neural endocranium and stapes of Diadectes absitus (Diadectomorpha) from the early Permian of Germany based on the high‐resolution X‐ray microcomputed tomography . The Anatomical Record . 303 . 12 . 2977–2999 . 10.1002/ar.24376 . 31967384 . 210870508 . free .