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Euronecturus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Euronecturus Temporal range:
Necturus maculosus, extant member of a sister clade to Euronecturus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Urodela
Family:	Proteidae
Genus:	†Euronecturus Macaluso et al, 2021
Type species
†E. grogu (Miocene, Germany) Macaluso et al, 2021

Euroecturus is an extinct genus of aquatic salamanders in the family Proteidae that lived in late Orleanian time during the Middle Miocene. Species of the genus was recently found in the Hambach lignite mine in Germany, Europe. The Miocene Ville Formation is the only place where it has been found as of 2024. The type species Euronecturus grogu was named after Grogu, a popular character from the Star Wars show "The Mandalorian". The name Euronecturus refers to its range limited to Europe and its resemblance and likely phylogenetic affinity to Paranecturus and Necturus.

Fossil Evidence

The genus Euronecturus was described from the 5 isolated atlases found in the Ville Formation in the Hambach lignite mine. The fossils in question was 1 holotype which was an almost complete atlas (part of the vertebra) and 4 paratypes. The fossils in question are very small, being only a couple of millimeters in width, height and thickness. The species, Euronecturus grogu, was described to have the following features: anterior cotyles dorsoventrally compressed and not confluent medially, processus odontoideus with an unseparated articular surface, prescence of secondary dorsal crests and postzygapophyses small and directed ventrolaterally. The two last features are possible unique features of the new taxon as well as a deep ventral fossa on the ventral surface of the atlas which is only known in Euronecturus grogu.

Taxonomy

The genus Euronecturus and its type species are distinguished from other families of urodeles based on the unique features of the analysed atlases. The morphology of the atlases most closely resembles the extinct North American species Paranecturus garbanii but differs in that Paranecturus garbanii has a neural canal that is partly flanked laterally by the anterior cotyles while Euronecturus grogu the neural canal is located above the anterior cotyles. The prescence of secondary dorsal crests also distinguish the new genus and species from all extant proteids. A phylogenetic analysis showed that it shares a common ancestor with Paranecturus garbanii as the earliest branching taxon. It is therefore a sister to a clade that includes the North American Necturus maculosus as well as the other European Proteidae genuses Proteus and Mioproteus.

Ecology

During the Miocene, studies show that the area around the Hambach lignite mine, where the new genus and species lived, was very humid and that there was permanent water bodies, sandy soils, marshy environments and forested areas nearby. Many aquatic and semiaquatic vertebrates has been identified from this time and their ages and diversity along with tropical elements found fits well with a ~2 million year greenhouse period known as the Miocene Climatic Optimum during this time.