Iberospondylus is an extinct genus of basal temnospondyl

Temnospondyli

Temnospondyli is a diverse order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic periods. A few species continued into the Cretaceous. Fossils have been found on every continent...

 amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

 which lived in a marine environment. The type material was found in the Puertollano basin, Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, with a population of c. 74,000. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid, located 115 miles to the north. A high capacity...

 province, southern Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and extended the record for temnospondyls on the peninsula by 45 million years. Along with the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

, a skull with several disarticulated vertebrae and ribs, two other partial skeletons are known. The name is derived from "Iberia

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

" name of the peninsula where Spain is located, plus "spodylos", Greek for vertebra. The species name is in honor of Dr. Hans-Peter Schultze.

External links

• Publication. & 2001. "The oldest stegocephalian from the Iberian Peninsula: evidence that temnospondyls were euryhaline" Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences - Series III - Sciences de la Vie 324(5):495-501