Hylaeobatrachus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of amphibians}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Barremian}}

| image = Bulletin du Musée royal d'histoire naturelle de Belgique = BHL39116870.jpg

| image_caption = Slab and counterslab of holotype specimen

| taxon = Hylaeobatrachus

| authority = Dollo, 1884

| type_species = {{extinct}} Hylaeobatrachus croyii

| type_species_authority = Dollo, 1884

}}

Hylaeobatrachus is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamander, known from the Early Cretaceous of Europe.{{cite web|url=http://www.lisanfos.mncn.csic.es/?module=taxon&id=840&lang=en |title=Hylaeobatrachus Dollo, 1884 |author1=Martín, C. |author2=Sanchiz, B. |year=2014 |work=Lisanfos KMS. Version 1.2. Online reference accessible at www.lisanfos.mncn.csic.es/ |publisher=Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, MNCN-CSIC, Madrid (Spain) |accessdate=21 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224180934/http://www.lisanfos.mncn.csic.es/?module=taxon&id=840&lang=en |archivedate=24 February 2014 }} The type species H. croyii is known from the Sainte-Barbe Clays Formation at the Iguanodon locality of Belgium, and was described by Louis Dollo. An unnamed Hylaeobatrachus-like taxon has also been reported from Las Hoyas, Spain. Both localities are of Barremian age.{{Cite journal |last1=Skutschas |first1=Pavel P. |last2=Kolchanov |first2=Veniamin V. |last3=Schwermann |first3=Achim H. |date=December 2020 |title=First salamander from the Lower Cretaceous of Germany |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0195667120302925 |journal=Cretaceous Research |language=en |volume=116 |pages=104606 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104606|bibcode=2020CrRes.11604606S |s2cid=225440583 }} Hylaeobatrachus belongs to the crown group of modern salamanders, though its exact relationship with modern salamander groups is uncertain. It was neotenic, like some modern salamanders.{{Cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Marc E. H. |last2=Benson |first2=Roger B. J. |last3=Skutschas |first3=Pavel |last4=Hill |first4=Lucy |last5=Panciroli |first5=Elsa |last6=Schmitt |first6=Armin D. |last7=Walsh |first7=Stig A. |last8=Evans |first8=Susan E. |date=2022-07-26 |title=Middle Jurassic fossils document an early stage in salamander evolution |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=119 |issue=30 |pages=e2114100119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2114100119 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=9335269 |pmid=35858401|bibcode=2022PNAS..11914100J }}