Land salamanders of the family Hynobiidae from the Neogene and Quaternary of Europe

A new extinct genus with two new species of land salamanders of the family Hynobiidae, from the Late Miocene of Polgardi (MN13), Hungary (Parahynobius kordosi gen. n. sp. n.) and from the Lower Pleistocene of Betfia WC (MQ1), Romania (Parahynobius betfianus gen. n. sp. n.), is described. The Late Mi ocene locality of Tardosbanya (MN12) and the Lower Pliocene locality of Osz tramos 1C (MN14), Hungary, also yielded several vertebrae, assigned with so me doubt to the above genus (cf. Parahynobius). The new taxa belonged to th e westernmost distributed stock of land salamanders of the Hynobius-group, which, based on the available fossil record, reached the Carpathian Basin d uring Late Miocene and disappeared from the area during Lower Pleistocene t imes. The Hynobiidae had a wider geographic distribution during the Tertiar y and Quaternary compared to their present range, which is limited to Asia.