Albanerpetontidae is an
extinct family of superficially
salamander-like
lissamphibians. Albanerpetontids include four genera –
Albanerpeton,
Anoualerpeton,
Celtedens, and
Wesserpeton – and between 10 and 20 known species, spanning about 160 million years from the
Bathonian stage of the
Middle Jurassic to the end of the
Pliocene, about 2.5 million years ago. Albanerpetontids were long thought to be salamanders because of their small size and generalized body plans. However, these features are now thought to be ancestral for lissamphibians and not indicative of close relationships between the two groups. One of the things that made them different from salamanders was that their skin was covered with bony scales. Albanerpetontids are now recognized as a distinct
clade of lissamphibians separate from the three living orders of amphibians –
Anura (frogs),
Caudata (salamanders), and
Gymnophiona (caecilians). They are thought to be more closely related to frogs and salamanders than to caecilians.