Karaurus
Encyclopedia
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Karaurus is an extinct genus of salamander
from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian
- Kimmeridgian
) Karabastau Svita
of Kazakhstan
. It is one of the oldest salamanders known.
Karaurus was about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, and very similar anatomically to modern salamanders. It probably swam through fresh water feeding on aquatic snail
s, worm
s, crustacean
s and insect
s.
Karaurus is an extinct genus of salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian
Oxfordian
Oxfordian may refer to:* Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, view that Edward de Vere wrote under Shakespeare's name* Oxfordian , a geological time interval...
- Kimmeridgian
Kimmeridgian
In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age or stage in the Late or Upper Jurassic epoch or series. It spans the time between 155.7 ± 4 Ma and 150.8 ± 4 Ma . The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian and precedes the Tithonian....
) Karabastau Svita
Karabastau Svita
The Karabastau Svita is a geological formation in Kazakhastan whose strata date back to the Late Jurassic. Pterosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.-Vertebrates:-Invertebrates:...
of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
. It is one of the oldest salamanders known.
Karaurus was about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, and very similar anatomically to modern salamanders. It probably swam through fresh water feeding on aquatic snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s and insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s.