μCT source dataset of skeletons of a basal salamandroid (Amphibia, Caudata) Qinglongtriton gangouensis

It comes the digital era for Paleontological research. High resolution X-ray tomography (or μCT) has several advantages (high-resolution, high-efficiency and non-destructive detection) over traditional mechanical preparation and serial sectioning techniques when investigating fossil specimens, and thus, this new technique has widely been used by paleontologists. Qinglongtriton gangouensis is a primitive fossil salamander of the suborder Salamandroidea. Specimens of this taxon were discovered from the Upper Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation of Hebei Province, China, and the fossil beds have been dated to ~160 Million years. This paper provides the μCT source data of the holotype (PKUP V0226) and two referred specimens (PKUP V0228, PKUP V0254) of Qinglongtriton gangouensis, a 3D printable stl formatted file of the upper body skeleton of PKUP V0226, and the images and videos displaying the reconstructed skeleton of the three specimens. This is the first attempt of employing μCT technique in study of fossil salamander specimens discovered from China. Several unique osteological features were recognized via μCT from this primitive salamander; for instance, the absence of ossified orbitosphenoid, provides deep insights in understanding character evolution of Salamandroidea. This dataset offers a comparison for those applications of μCT on fossil salamanders yet to come, and also opens a window to the amateurs for virtual access to these salamander fossil specimens by pictures, videos and 3D printable models.