Palaeobatrachus
Sign in to savePalaeobatrachus (meaning "ancient frog" in Greek) is an extinct genus of frogs from Europe that existed from the middle Eocene to the middle Pleistocene (Ionian Stage) (621–568,000 years ago), spanning almost 50 million years. They were obligately aquatic, and would have not spent much time on dry land. They are one of two genera and by far the largest genus in the family Palaeobatrachidae, which are considered to be members of Pipimorpha, related to the South American-African family Pipidae, which includes the African clawed frog and Surinam toad.
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5 sectionsContents
- Description
- Taxonomy
- Habitat and paleoecology
- References
- Further reading
Palaeobatrachus (meaning "ancient frog" in Greek) is an extinct genus of frogs from Europe that existed from the middle Eocene to the middle Pleistocene (Ionian Stage) (621–568,000 years ago), spanning almost 50 million years. They were obligately aquatic, and would have not spent much time on dry land. They are one of two genera and by far the largest genus in the family Palaeobatrachidae, which are considered to be members of Pipimorpha, related to the South American-African family Pipidae, which includes the African clawed frog and Surinam toad.
==Description== thumb|left|Restoration left|thumb|Cast of Palaeobatrachus fossil at the University of Alberta Palaeobatrachus had a relatively broad skull the shape of a Gothic arch. Its body was relatively large, ranging from in length, and the female was usually larger than the male (sexual dimorphism).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Palaeobatrachus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.