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Additional Research And Taxonomic Resolution Of Salamanders (Amphibia: Caudata) From The Mio-Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, Tn, Hannah E. Darcy
Additional Research And Taxonomic Resolution Of Salamanders (Amphibia: Caudata) From The Mio-Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, Tn, Hannah E. Darcy
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Gray Fossil Site (GFS), a Mio-Pliocene (4.5–7 Ma) locality in the southern Appalachians, boasts the most diverse pre-Pleistocene salamander fauna in North America: Desmognathus sp., Plethodon sp., Notophthalmus sp., a Spelerpinae-type plethodontid, and Ambystoma sp. Because greater taxonomic resolution can result in more precise paleobiological interpretations, additional specimens were studied here. ETMNH 8045, a nearly complete articulated ambystomatid, appears most like Ambystoma maculatum in dentition and vertebral proportions. ETMNH 18219, an isolated vomer, is consistent with modern Pseudotriton and Gyrinophilus in possessing a postdentigerous process and a similar dentigerous row morphology. If these taxa, or species …