Ambystoma quetzalcoatli

Ambystoma quetzalcoatli is an extinct species of salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. It is known from several articulated skeletons of juveniles to adult individuals, found in the late Pliocene Atotonilco el Grande Formation of Mexico. A. quetzalcoatli is the oldest instance of the genus Ambystoma in this country, as well as the one known from the most complete remains.

Ambystoma quetzalcoatli

Anthony Brais · CC BY-NC 4.0 · via GBIF. 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
AmblystomaPBDB
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 most 2.8 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5.333 Mya and 2.58 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 1 occurrencePliocene — about 1 of 1 occurrencePliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 1 occurrence5.3–5.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.2–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.8–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.2–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–4.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.8–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.2–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.83 Mya2.08 Mya

1 occurrence of Ambystoma quetzalcoatli on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

1 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

1 formation

Atotonilco el Grande — 20.30°N, 98.76°W

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The named rock units Ambystoma quetzalcoatli has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Ambystoma quetzalcoatli and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Ambystoma quetzalcoatli and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

1 taxon

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Ambystoma quetzalcoatli, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Ambystoma quetzalcoatli

Source
GBIF
Credit
Anthony Brais
Licence
CC BY-NC 4.0
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itAmblystoma through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Herrera-Flores and Velasco-de León 2026