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. It was properly described in 2000 and was then concluded to be most closely related to Pipidae frogs. Hence, it was included in Pipimorpha.[1]

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

Etymology edit

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][3]

See also edit

References edit

  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.
  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.
  3. ^ Báez, Ana María (September 2009). "The earliest known pipoid frog from South America: A new genus from the Middle Cretaceous of Argentina". Retrieved September 25, 2020.