Albanerpeton

Albanerpeton is an extinct genus of salamander-like albanerpetontid amphibian found in North America, Europe and Asia first appearing in Cretaceous-aged strata. There are eight described members of the genus, and one undiagnosed species from the Paskapoo Formation, making it by far the most speciose genus in the family. Members of the genus had a robust head and neck which likely allowed them to actively burrow, characteristic of fossorial species, and they lived in a wide range of environments. This genus of amphibian was the last of its order, surviving until into the Early Pleistocene (Gelasian) of northern Italy, and possibly northern Spain, until around 2 million years ago. It likely became extinct when the region developed its present Mediterranean-type climate, having preferred one that was cold and humid. The monophyly of Albanerpeton has recently been questioned, with some authors regarding the genus as paraphyletic.

Albanerpeton

Daeng Dino · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AlbanerpetontidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 117 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 3.55 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 125.77 Mya to 1.8 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 9 of 159 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 102 of 159 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 5 of 159 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 159 occurrencesOligocene — about 6 of 159 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 35 of 159 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 159 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 159 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence120–115 Mya — about 2 occurrences115–111 Mya — about 2 occurrences111–107 Mya — about 1 occurrence107–103 Mya — about 1 occurrence103–98 Mya — about 2 occurrences98–94 Mya — about 3 occurrences94–90 Mya — about 1 occurrence90–86 Mya — about 2 occurrences86–81 Mya — about 26 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 20 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 20 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 19 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 11 occurrences64–60 Mya — about 2 occurrences60–56 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–30 Mya — about 2 occurrences30–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–21 Mya — about 1 occurrence21–17 Mya — about 7 occurrences17–13 Mya — about 16 occurrences13–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–4.3 Mya — about 10 occurrences4.3–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences121.4 Mya3.55 Mya128 Mya0 Mya

159 occurrences of Albanerpeton on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

159 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

31 formations

Oldman — 49.10°N, 110.94°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.84°WOldman — 49.08°N, 110.68°WOldman — 49.16°N, 110.72°WOldman — 50.76°N, 111.53°WMilk River — 49.10°N, 111.80°WAguja — 29.10°N, 103.17°WAguja — 29.32°N, 103.52°WAguja — 29.30°N, 103.57°WDinosaur Park — 50.75°N, 111.50°WDinosaur Park — 50.76°N, 111.52°WDinosaur Park — 50.84°N, 111.30°WDinosaur Park — 49.10°N, 110.94°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°Wfacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 47.27°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.92°WDensuș-Ciula — 45.60°N, 22.85°EDensuș-Ciula — 45.63°N, 22.90°EPui Beds — 45.49°N, 23.09°EKaiparowits — 37.40°N, 111.20°WKaiparowits — 37.80°N, 111.50°WLance — 43.12°N, 104.64°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WPaskapoo — 51.10°N, 114.50°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.77°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WCedar Mountain — 38.94°N, 111.08°WCedar Mountain — 38.66°N, 111.24°WCedar Mountain — 38.64°N, 111.37°WAntlers — 34.15°N, 95.82°WAntlers — 33.50°N, 97.58°WAntlers — 33.28°N, 97.62°WCloverly — 44.65°N, 107.88°WCloverly — 44.51°N, 107.90°WCloverly — 44.50°N, 107.82°WLaa — 48.37°N, 16.35°EStraight Cliffs — 37.80°N, 111.50°WStraight Cliffs — 37.62°N, 112.16°WForemost — 50.07°N, 111.14°WForemost — 49.13°N, 110.87°WLa Huérguina — 40.12°N, 1.97°WLa Huérguina — 40.22°N, 1.98°WUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°ELaramie — 40.39°N, 104.49°WRâul Mare — 45.57°N, 22.87°EKhodzhakul — 40.10°N, 65.80°EPaluxy — 33.53°N, 97.56°WŞard — 46.03°N, 23.55°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Albanerpeton has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 29 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Albanerpeton and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Albanerpeton and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

1,540 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 131 sites for Albanerpeton, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

41 references

Each of the 159 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 29 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Albanerpeton

Credit
Daeng Dino
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Albanerpeton was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlbanerpetontidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Estes and Hoffstetter 1976