Avitabatrachus

Avitabatrachus
Temporal range: Cenomanian
~99.6–93.5 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Clade: Pipimorpha
Genus: Avitabatrachus
Báez et al. 2000[1][2]
Species:
A. uliana
Binomial name
Avitabatrachus uliana
Báez et al. 2000

Avitabatrachus uliana is the only species discovered so far in the extinct genus Avitabatrachus, a genus of prehistoric frogs that lived in the Middle Cretaceous. Fossils of A. uliana were found in the Candeleros Formation of northwestern Patagonia in Argentina. This prehistoric amphibian was properly described in 2000 and was then concluded to be most closely related to Pipidae frogs. Hence, it was included in Pipimorpha.[1] A subsequent phylogenetic analysis confirmed this conclusion, and further suggested that Avitabatrachus uliana is more closely related to Pipidae and Shelaniinae than to Palaeobatrachus.[3]

Etymology

The genus name, Avitabatrachus, is derived from the Greek words avita meaning "ancient" and batrachos meaning "frog", so called because it is the oldest record of pipids in South America. The species is named after Miguel Uliana.[1][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Baez, Maria Ana; Linda Trueb; Jorge O. Calvo (2000-03-30). "The Earliest Known Pipoid Frog from South America: A New Genus from the Middle Cretaceous of Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20 (3). The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology: 490–500. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0490:TEKPFF]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1937-2809. Archived from the original on 2024-04-29. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  2. ^ Dubois, Alain; Ronald I. Crombie; Frank Glaw (2005). "Recent amphibians: generic and infrageneric taxonomic additions (1981-2002)" (PDF). Alytes. 23 (1–2): 25–69. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-04-24. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  3. ^ Lemierre, Alfred; Bailon, Salvador; Folie, Annelise; Laurin, Michel (January 2023). "A new pipid from the Cretaceous of Africa (In Becetèn, Niger) and early evolution of the Pipidae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 21 (1). Bibcode:2023JSPal..2166428L. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2266428. ISSN 1477-2019.
  4. ^ Báez, Ana María (September 2009). "The earliest known pipoid frog from South America: A new genus from the Middle Cretaceous of Argentina". Archived from the original on April 29, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2020.