O. G. Dely szerk.: Vertebrata Hungarica 21. (Budapest, 1982)

Čkhikvadze, V.M.: On findings of fossil Cryptobranchidae in the USSR and Mongolia 63-68. o.

were found several times during the expeditions of 1966-1980. They originated from the upper part of the Aksyir suite and the Kustovian suite, which are dated as Lower Oligocene (BORISOV 1963, CKHIKVADZE 1973). In his paper of 1959 CHERNOV adduces erroneous spelling of the species name. It is known that the species is named after the Soviet palaeontologist Elizaveta Ivanova Belyaeva, but the author writes her name in latin spelling Beliajeva and not Belyaeva (also erroneously on the label Beliajeava). Besides, the ending of the species name should be corrected since according to Recomendation 31A of ICZN a species named after a female must have an ending - ae. The name Zaissanurus beliajeva

e with different modifications has been mentioned by the following authors: CHERNOV (1959, p. 180), TERENTEV (1961, p. 52), TATARINOV (1964, p. 160), KHOZATSKIÍ (1975, P» 43

9>. BERDIBAYEVA (1979, p. 149), ESTES & DAREVSKY (1977, p. 168). Order: Urodela Family: Cryptobranchidae According to the latest data (SHISHKIN 1975, HOLMAN 1977, WESTPHAL 1967, NAYLOR 1981) the following species of these salamanders are known: North America Palaeocene - Cryptobranchus saskatchewanensis Lower Eocene - Cryptobranchus willwoodensis Miocene - Cryptobranchus matthew Pleistocene - Cryptobranchus quildayi Recent - Cryptobranchus alleganiensis Asia Palaeocene - Cryptobranchidae gen.indet. (Mongolia) Upper Eocene - Zaissanurus sp. (Zaisan, new data) Lower Oligocene - Zaissanurus beliajevae Middle Oligocene - Zaissanurus sp. (Zaisan, new data) Lower Miocene - Andrias karelcapeki sp.nov. Lower Miocene, Aquitan - Andrias sp. (South Georgian SSR, Benara, new data) Lower Pliocene - Andrias sp. (Pavlodar region of Irtish river, Gusiny perelyot) Europe Middle Oligocene - Upper Pliocene - Andrias scheuchzeri (Centr. Europe) (WESTPHAL 1958, 1967, 1970, THENIUS 1954). Miocene - Andrias sp. (Moldavia) (TATARINOV 1964). Middle Pliocene - Andrias sp. (Ukrainia, locations Kuchurgan, Trudomirovka) (CKHIKVADZE 1981) All the abovementioned allows the suggestion that the centre of origin of the family should be Asia and not North America, as it was presumed earlier (NAYLOR 1981). Karyosystematical data also indicate this, though in an indirect way (MORESCALCHI, ODIERNA & OLMO 1977). The family Scapherpetonidae is probably not the ancestral group for Cryptobranchidae. The remnants of Scapherpeto

n were earlier known from the Upper Cretaceous deposits of North America (ESTES 1964), but two genera of this family were found in the Upper Cretaceous deposits of Middle Asia (NESOV 1979). PLATE I. Zaissanurus beliajeva

e Cernov, 1959. - Fig. 1. Holotype, PIN N° 416-1, lower jaw. Location Konur-Kura; Lower Oligocene, Fig. 2. Lower jaw., Fig. 3. Maxillare (Views from the top and below)