A NEW SALAMANDRID FROM THE MIOCENE RANDECK MAAR, GERMANY

A new species of salamandrid is named and described from the Miocene of Randeck Maar, a long-term volcanic lake deposit in southern Germany. Based on a fully articulated specimen, Ichthyosaura randeckensis is named and described as a 3-4 cm long newt with a robust posterolateral process of the frontal, a heavily ornamented skull roof, and a premaxilla with spike-like, parallel alary processes framing a slender fontanelle posteriorly. In a phylogenetic analysis of 14 salamandrid taxa and 38 morphological characters, I. randeckensis is found to nest with I. alpestris, with which it shares apomorphic character states in the morphology of premaxilla and nasal. The present analysis employed more morphological characters than hitherto considered, highlighting the need to conduct more osteological studies of extant salamanders. Its results are largely consistent with recent molecular phylogenetic studies: Tylototriton and Pleurodeles form a clade, with Notophthalmus and Euproctus falling within unresolved trichotomies, followed by Cynops and Ommatotriton as successive crownward clades, then Triturus sensu stricto (T. marmoratus and T. cristatus), and finally Lissotriton and Ichthyosaura as terminal sister taxa.