A new helmeted frog (Anura: Calyptocephalellidae) from an Eocene subtropical lake of northwestern Patagonia,Argentina

GÓMEZ, RAÚL ORENCIO; BÁEZ, ANA MARÍA; MUZZOPAPPA, PAULA

JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

SOC VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

Año: 2011 vol. 31 p. 50 - 50

0272-4634

Eocene caldera-lake deposits from Río Pichileufú have yielded anuran remains in association with a taxonomically diverse flora. The floral evidence suggests that these anurans lived under climatic conditions similar to those of extant subtropical rainforests. One of the anurans is a helmeted neobatrachian, which is represented by articulated remains and is described herein as a new species of the extant genus Calyptocephalella based on cranial and postcranial traits. This record indicates that, despite its relatively conservative skeletal anatomy, Calyptocephalella has not always been associated with the temperate austral forests that it inhabits today, as previously stated. It also provides evidence of the biotic link with Australia that has been proposed on the basis of other faunal and floral records, as well as on the paleogeographic history of Patagonia during the mid-Cretaceous?Eocene interval. We also discuss the significance of some cranial features that might reflect hyperossification.