The oldest stegocephalian from the Iberian peninsula: evidence that temnospondyls were euryhaline.
The previous fossil record of limbed vertebrates of the Iberian peninsula started in the Triassic (245 Ma). The discovery of a new temnospondyl from the Late Carboniferous (Stephanian C, 290 Ma) extends the fossil record of stegocephalians in this region by at least 45 Ma. Early stegocephalians are usually thought to have been unable to live in salt water, but the new temnospondyl described below appears to have lived in a coastal region, presumably in salt water.
Laurin
M
M
Institut für Paläontologie, Naturhistorisches Forschungsinstitut, Museum für Naturkunde, Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universität, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. laurin@ccr.jussieu.fr
Soler-Gijón
R
R
D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D010802:Phylogeny; D011174:Portugal; D012623:Seawater; D013030:Spain; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000033:anatomy & histology