The Early Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) lower vertebrate fauna from Galve, Spain, includes two hybodontid sharks, Hybodus parvidens and Lonchidion microselachos n. sp., as well as fragmentary remains of characteristic Mesozoic bony fishes . The salamander Albanerpeton cf. megacephalus (Prosirenidae) is most similar to Jurassic Portuguese specimens ofthis species . Galverpeton ibericum n. gen . et sp. (family incertae sedis) was probably a slim-bodied animal; it resembles the ambystomatoidplethodontoid salamanders and is the earliest record of the more derived salamander groups. The first disarticulated specimens of the Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous discoglossid frog Eodiscoglossus santonjae permit refinement of the diagnosis of this primitive frog. A variety of small reptiles is also present, including lizards, crocodilians and dinosaurs; the latter are notable in being represented by teeth of very small (young?) animals.The Galve assemblage includes primarily freshwater forms, and, based on a limited sample, shows broad similarities to other Early Cretaceous faunas in England and (to a slightly lesser degree) North America. It also seems to indicate the beginnings of endemism in the Iberian Peninsula and related areas at the beginning ofthe Cretaceous, a time when Laurasia was still a single unit.
A review of North American Late Cretaceous frog s demonstrates that Paradiscoglossu s am erican us n. gen. et sp . (Discoglossidae) and Palaeobatrachus occidentalis n. sp. (Palaeobatrachidae) definitively establish the presence of these families in the Late Cretaceous of North America (La nce Formation, Wyoming).P. occidentalis is also represented in the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation in Montana. Interrelationships ofpalaeobatrachids are bri efly discussed. A critical review of S cotiophryne pu stulo sa, earlier referred to the bombinid line within the Discoglo ssidae, establishes that there is a weak but definite case for maintaining this taxon in the Discoglossidae. Material that has been questionably referred to the pelobatid frog Eopelobates may be referred to the genus with some confidence. Familial relationships of Th eatonius lancensis remain obscure.The presence of discoglossids and palaeobatrachids in North America during the Cretaceous strengthens the hypothesis of Estes and Reig (1973) that these groups were Holarctic in distribution, although both groups seem to have been primarily Eurasian.
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