Land salamanders of the family Hynobiidae from the Neogene and Quaternary of Europe
AbstractA new extinct genus with two new species of land salamanders of the family Hynobiidae, from the Late Miocene of Polgárdi (MN13), Hungary (Parahynobius kordosi gen. n. sp. n.) and from the Lower Pleistocene of Betfia IX/C (MQ1), Romania (Parahynobius betfianus gen. n. sp. n.), is described. The Late Miocene locality of Tardosbánya (MN12) and the Lower Pliocene locality of Osztramos 1C (MN 14), Hungary, also yielded several vertebrae, assigned with some doubt to the above genus (cf. Parahynobius). The new taxa belonged to the westernmost distributed stock of land salamanders of the Hynohius-group, which, based on the available fossil record, reached the Carpathian Basin during Late Miocene and disappeared from the area during Lower Pleistocene times. The Hynobiidae had a wider geographic distribution during the Tertiary and Quaternary compared to their present range, which is limited to Asia.