Palaeobatrachus
Name:
Palaeobatrachus
(Ancient frog).
Phonetic: Pay-le-o-ba-trak-us.
Named By: Tschudi - 1839.
Classification: Chordata, Amphibia, Anura,
Palaeobatrachidae.
Species: P. occidentalis, P.
robustus. P. hiri?
Diet: Carnivore/Insectivore.
Size: About 10 centimetres long.
Known locations: Canada, France, Germany and the
USA. Possibly also Romania too.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous through
to the Aquitanian of the Miocene.
Fossil representation: Many individuals including
tadpoles and eggs. Some specimens are so well preserved that
impressions of soft tissues such as internal organs have been preserved.
Palaeobatrachus
was an ancient frog that has often been related as being similar to the
African clawed toad genus Xenopus. Palaeobatrachus
is thought to have
been a primarily aquatic frog which means that it rarely left the
water. Like with other frogs, Palaeobatrachus
were probably
predators of invertebrates as well as possibly vertebrates too. In
turn Palaeobatrachus were likely prey for any
predator that frequented
water systems of the time.
Palaeobatrachus
fossils are known from the late Cretaceous of the United States and
Canada, while most of the European fossils from locations in France
and Germany are early Miocene in age. The prospect of a new species,
P. hiri from Romania however might push the
temporal range of
Palaeobatrachus all the way to the Serravallian
stage of the Miocene.
Ultimately however, Palaeobatrachus seem to have
succumbed to the
effects of climate change as the tropical forests of Europe and North
America were replaced by cooler open grasslands during the Miocene.
Relatives
of Palaeobatrachus include Albionbatrachus
and Pliobatrachus.
Further reading
- New discoglossid and palaeobatrachid frogs from the Late Cretaceous
of Wyoming and Montana, and a review of other frogs from the Lance
and Hell Creek Formations, R , Estes & B. Sanchiz
-
1982.
- Palaeobatrachid Frogs from the Earliest Miocene (Agenian) of
France, with Description of a New Species, S. Hossini &
J.
-C. Rage - 2000.
- Palaeobatrachus eurydices, sp. nov. (Amphibia, Anura), the last
western European palaeobatrachid. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
36 (6). - Andrea Villa, Zbyněk Roček, Emanuel Tschopp, Lars W. Van Den
Hoek Ostende & Massimo Delfino - 2016.
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