Early Cretaceous neobatrachian frog (Anura) from Brazil sheds light on the origin of modern anurans

ARANCIAGA ROLANDO, ALEXIS M.; ANDRADE, JOSÉ ARTUR FERREIRA GOMES; CARVALHO, ISMAR DE SOUZA; XAVIER-NETO, JOSÉ; AGNOLIN, FEDERICO; NOVAS, FERNANDO E.; FREITAS, FRANCISCO IDALÉCIO

JOURNAL OF SOUTH AMERICAN EARTH SCIENCES

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 101

0895-9811

The fossil record of anurans in South America is scarse, especially for Mesozoic-aged beds. The aim of the presentpaper is to describe a new neobatrachian anuran coming from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formationfrom Brazil. The specimen, represented by a nearly complete skeleton is reminiscent to the extant cladeHyloidea. In contrast with recent claims, this finding, together with previously known fossils from South Americaindicates that modern frog clades were present and well-diversified by 40 million years before the K/T boundary.In the same sense, the analysis of Mesozoic and Paleogene anuran record in South America contradicts thehypothesis of massive anuran extinction at the K/T boundary