The Cryptobranchidae are a family of fully aquatic salamanders commonly known as the giant salamanders. They include the largest living amphibians. The family is native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States. They constitute one of two living families within the Cryptobranchoidea, one of two main divisions of living salamanders, the other being the Asiatic salamanders belonging to the family Hynobiidae.
The Caudata are a group of amphibians containing the extant salamanders (Urodela) and all extinct species of amphibians more closely related to salamanders than to frogs. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults.
Jeholopterus was a small anurognathid pterosaur from the Middle to Late Jurassic Daohugou Beds of the Tiaojishan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China, preserved with hair-like pycnofibres and skin remains.
Echinodon is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the earliest Cretaceous of southern England and possibly western France in the Berriasian epoch. The first specimens were jaw bones named Echinodon becklesii by Sir Richard Owen in 1861, and since their original description only additional teeth have been discovered. The specific name honours collector Samuel Beckles who discovered the material of Echinodon and many other taxa from across England, while the genus name translates as "prickly tooth" in reference to the dental anatomy of the taxon.
Anurognathus is a genus of small pterosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period. Anurognathus was first named and described by Ludwig Döderlein in 1923. The type species is Anurognathus ammoni. The genus name Anurognathus is derived from the Greek αν/ an- ("without"), оυρα/ oura ("tail"), and γναθος/ gnathos ("jaw") in reference to its unusually small tail relative to other "rhamphorhynchoid" pterosaurs. The specific name ammoni honours the Bavarian geologist Ludwig von Ammon, from whose collection Döderlein had acquired the fossil in 1922.
Lufengosaurus is a genus of massospondylid dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now southwestern China.
Scansoriopterygidae is an extinct family of climbing and gliding maniraptoran dinosaurs. Scansoriopterygids are known from five well-preserved fossils, representing four species, unearthed in the Tiaojishan Formation fossil beds of Liaoning and Hebei, China.
Sinosaurus is an extinct genus of theropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic Period. It was a bipedal carnivore approximately 5.5 metres (18 ft) in length and 300 kilograms (660 lb) in body mass. Fossils of the animal were found at the Lufeng Formation, in the Yunnan Province of China.
Batrachognathus is an extinct genus of anurognathid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation of the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan. The genus was named in 1948 by the Russian paleontologist Anatoly Nicolaevich Ryabinin. The type species is Batrachognathus volans. The genus name is derived from Greek batrakhos, "frog" and gnathos, "jaw", in reference to the short wide head. The specific epithet means "flying" in Latin.
Dendrorhynchoides was a genus of anurognathid pterosaur containing only the holotype species D. curvidentatus that is known from the Middle Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Qinglong, northern Hebei Province, China.
Chunerpeton tianyiensis is an extinct species of salamander from the Late Jurassic Daohugou Beds in Ningcheng County, Nei Mongol, China. It is the only species classified under the genus Chunerpeton. It was a small animal measuring 18 cm in length. It was neotenic, with the retention of external gills into adulthood. In the original description it was placed in Cryptobranchidae, which contains modern giant salamanders. A redescription published in 2020 found it to be a stem-group caudatan outside the crown group of modern salamanders. A 2021 study found it to be a member of Cryptobranchoidea outside of Cryptobranchidae.. In 2022 a more extensive analysis, with greater character and taxon sampling, recovered Chunerpeton tianyiense as a stem-group caudatan, outside the crown group of modern salamanders, and associated with Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis and Qinglongtriton gangouensis.
Jeholotriton is a genus of primitive salamander from the Daohugou Beds near Daohugou village of Inner Mongolia, China.
Callobatrachus is an extinct genus of frog from the Early Cretaceous-age Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China. It was described in 1999 by K. Gao of the American Museum of Natural History and Y. Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was discovered in the Sihetun locality of the western part of Liaoning province.
Hylaeobatrachus is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamander, known from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. The type species H. croyii is known from the Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation at the Iguanodon locality of Belgium, and was described by Louis Dollo. An unnamed Hylaeobatrachus-like taxon has also been reported from Las Hoyas, Spain. Both localities are of Barremian age. Hylaeobatrachus belongs to the crown group of modern salamanders, though its exact relationship with modern salamander groups is uncertain. It was neotenic, llike some modern salamanders.
Liaobatrachus is a genus of prehistoric frog, the first fossil specimen of which was recovered from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China. It was the first Mesozoic era frog ever found in China. The species Callobatrachus sanyanensis,Mesophryne beipiaoensis and Yizhoubatrachusmacilentus were classified as species of Liaobatrachus in one study, but this has been rejected by other authors. The genus has been considered a nomen dubium by some authors due to the poor preservation of the holotype specimen. Fossils were found in the Sihetun locality of the western part of Liaoning province, in the lower part of the Yixian Formation, and date to approximately 124.6 Ma. Another specimen was collected near Heitizigou, 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Beipiao. The specimen has a snout–vent length of 69 millimetres (2.7 in). Liaobatrachus is considered to be the most basal member of Discoglossidae based on phylogenetic analysis.
Kokartus is an extinct genus of prehistoric stem-group salamander (Caudata) from the Middle Jurassic Balabansai Formation of Kyrgyzstan.
Rhineceps is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian in the family Rhinesuchidae. Rhineceps was found in Northern Malawi in Southern Africa known only from its type species R. nyasaensis. Rhineceps was a late Permian semi-aquatic carnivore that lived in streams, rivers, lakes or lagoons. Rhineceps is an early divergent Stereopondyl within the family Rhinesuchidae, which only existed in the late Permian (Lopingian) and failed to survive the Permian-Triassic extinction unlike other stereospondyl families.
Liushusaurus is an extinct genus of lizard described by Susan E. Evans and Yuan Wang in 2010. The genus has a single species, Liushusaurus acanthocaudata, and is known from eight fossils, several of which preserve soft tissue detail. The specimens were found in the Lower Cretaceous aged Yixian Formation of Northeast China. Liushusaurus is one of eight lizards that are known and have been named from the Yixian Formation, part of the diverse Jehol Biota ecosystem.
Coeruleodraco is an extinct genus of choristoderan known from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) Tiaojishan Formation in China. Coeruleodraco is significant as the most complete Jurassic choristodere taxon, as the only other named Jurassic choristodere Cteniogenys is based on fragmentary remains. Although similar to Philydrosaurus in its proportions and postcranial characters, it is distinct in retaining several apparently plesiomorphic characters, including a short snout, paired external nares and an open lower temporal fenestra.
Triassurus is an extinct genus of amphibian, and the oldest member of Caudata. It is known from the Middle to Upper Triassic (Ladinian-Carnian) aged Madygen Formation in Kyrgyzstan. The type species is T. sixtelae.
