A metamorphosed salamander from the early cretaceous of Las Hoyas, Spain

A salamander, Valdotriton gracilis gen. et sp, nov., is described on the basis of six articulated skeletons of small metamorphosed individuals from the early Barremian (Early Cretaceous) La Huerguina Formation at the locality of Las Hoyas, Cuenca Province, Castilla La Mancha, Spain. Valdotriton is a relatively plesiomorphic member of the Urodela (crown-group salamanders), but more derived than the Sirenidae and Cryptobranchoidea, in that it possesses a single ossification in place of the prearticular and angular, and it has intravertebral spinal foramina on the anterior caudal vertebrae. It represents a plesion on the stem of the 'internally fertilizing salamander clade' comprising the Plethodontidae, Amphiumidae, Rhyacotritonidae, Proteidae, Dicamptodontidae, Ambystomatidae and Salamandridae.