St. Paleontologists from St. Petersburg State University and the Institute of Diamond and Precious Metals Geology SB RAS, together with colleagues from Great Britain and Germany, discovered a new species of salamander in Siberia. St. Petersburg State University reported this to socialbites.ca.
The remains of two salamanders were found in the Teete region in Yakutia. This finding confirms the existence of a fauna that survived the end-Jurassic extinction in what is now Siberia.
“The first of the salamanders found is a very primitive but large individual; 30-40 centimeters. Thanks to the discovered vertebrae, it was possible to determine that this is a new genus that has not been described before. The second salamander is small, about 10 centimeters, we were able to find only a few of its dental bones, which does not allow us to accurately determine its species. However, in its structure the remains are close to a salamander, perhaps it is also a Jurassic remains,” Pavel Skuchas, professor at the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at St. Petersburg State University, told socialbites.ca.
The fauna of this Teete region consists mainly of remains of the Jurassic period, which became extinct in other regions by the beginning of the Cretaceous period. However, the find shows that Jurassic vertebrates continued to live here during the Cretaceous period. Such findings confirm that at the end of the Jurassic period on the territory of Siberia there was an area of \u200b\u200bthe Great Siberian Refugium (from Latin refuge), where vertebrate animals were able to survive the transition to the Cretaceous period. They became extinct in other regions.
This was confirmed by finds near the village of Shestakovo in the Kemerovo region, where Jurassic remains and similar “pairs of large and small salamanders” were also discovered.
To determine species identity and conduct further research on the salamander found, University paleontologists are planning another expedition to the Teete region.
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Source: Gazeta
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