A redescription and phylogenetic analysis based on new material of the fossil newts Taricha oligocenica Van Frank, 1955 and Taricha lindoei Naylor, 1979 (Amphibia, Salamandridae) from the Oligocene of Oregon.

Complete body fossils of salamanders are relatively rare, but provide critical information on the evolutionary roots of extant urodele clades. We describe new specimens of the fossil salamandrids Taricha oligocenica Van Frank, 1955, and Taricha lindoei Naylor, 1979, from the Oligocene Mehama and John Day Formations of Oregon that illustrate aspects of skeletal morphology previously unseen in these taxa, and contribute to our understanding of population-level variation. Morphological analysis of these specimens supports the classification of T. oligocenica and T. lindoei as two different species, distinct from extant Taricha. Parsimony-based, heuristic analysis of phylogeny using 108 morphological characters for 40 taxa yields different results from a phylogenetic analysis that excludes four taxa known only via vertebrae. Our smaller analysis generally agrees with molecular phylogenies of the family Salamandridae, but with poorer resolution for molgin newts, especially between Taricha an...