McNamara, M.E., Orr, P.J., Manzocchi, T., Alcala ´,L.,Anadon, P. & Pen˜alver, E. 2011:Biological controls upon the physical taphonomy of exceptionally preserved salamandersfrom the Miocene of Rubielos de Mora, northeast Spain. Lethaia, DOI: 10.1111 ⁄j.1502-3931.2011.00274.xThe middle Miocene Rubielos de Mora Konservat-Lagersta¨tte of northeast Spain ishosted within profundal, finely laminated, lacustrine mudstones. The diverse biotaincludes abundant salamanders. Most individuals died during separate episodes andsank rapidly postmortem. Specimens are typically preserved in dorso-ventral aspect, themost hydrodynamically stable orientation. The near-cylindrical morphology of thebody, however, allowed some carcasses to settle in or subsequently re-orientate into, lat-eral orientations. Loss of skeletal elements (i.e. reduced completeness) reflects their loca-tion within the body and followed a distal to proximal trend. Two stages are identified:initial loss of a small number of phalanges, followed by loss of more proximal limbbones plus additional phalanges. Disarticulation is more complex: it occurred via severalmechanisms (notably, abdominal rupture and re-orientation of part of the body andlimbs during decay) and shows no consistent pattern among specimens. The physicaltaphonomy of the salamanders is controlled predominantly by intrinsic biological fac-tors, i.e. the geometry of the body and of individual skeletal elements, the orientation,inherent strength and location of specific joints and the extent to which soft tissues,particularly the skin, persist during decay. These biological factors probably controlpatterns of physical taphonomy of other fossil tetrapods with a similar skeletalconfiguration. h Articulation, completeness, Konservat-Lagersta¨tten, orientation, quantita-tive taphonomy, salamanders.Maria E. McNamara* [maria.mcnamara@yale.edu], Patrick J. Orr [patrick.orr@ucd.ie],and Tom Manzocchi [tom@fag.ucd.ie], UCD School of Geological Sciences, UniversityCollege Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; *Current address: Department of Geology andGeophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA; Luis Alcala ´ [alcala@dinop-olis.com], Fundacio ´n Conjunto Paleontologico de Teruel-Dino´polis, Avda. Sagunto s⁄n,44002 Teruel, Arago ´n, Spain; Pere Anadon [panadon@ija.csic.es], Consejo Superior de In-vestigaciones Cienti ´ficas, Institut de Cie`ncies de la Terra ‘Jaume Almera’, Lluis Sole´ i Sabariss⁄n 08028, Barcelona, Spain; Enrique Pen˜alver [e.penalver@igme.es], Instituto Geolo´gico yMinero de Espan˜a, C ⁄Ri´os Rosas 23, E-28003, Madrid, Spain; manuscript received on24 ⁄9⁄2010; manuscript accepted on 01 ⁄4⁄2011.