science
New fossil salamander species Ambystoma quetzalcoatli described from Pliocene site in Hidalgo, Mexico
Researchers described the first fossil salamander species formally named in Mexico from specimens found in Hidalgo state. The Pliocene-era remains predate prior records of the Ambystoma genus in the country and show neoteny similar to modern axolotls.
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Researchers have formally named a new fossil salamander species Ambystoma quetzalcoatli from specimens collected in central Mexico; the study, published in Palaeontologia Electronica, used CT scans and comparisons with living species to establish its distinct traits.
The fossils came from the municipality of Atotonilco el Grande in Hidalgo, a site that once held an 85-square-kilometer freshwater lake formed when the Amajac River was blocked.
A team led by Jorge Herrera Flores and María Patricia Velasco de León examined a dozen specimens collected in the early 2000s by the FES Zaragoza Paleobotany Research Group. Many fossils preserved complete, articulated skeletons.
Distinctive traits include an elongated opening on the top of the skull, a differently structured palate, variations in cranial bone arrangement, and 17 trunk vertebrae. Modern axolotls have 16 or fewer trunk vertebrae. The fossils date to the Pliocene epoch and indicate the species exhibited neoteny, retaining juvenile features into adulthood.
Researchers also obtained complete skeletons of the modern Ambystoma velasci for direct comparison. UNAM stated that the discovery shows the axolotl lineage has a much older evolutionary history than previously thought, with a presence in Mexico dating back to the Pliocene and an early diversification linked to ancient lake systems.
The story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and was translated from Spanish.
