A giant frog with South American affinities from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar

Abstract

Madagascar has a diverse but mainly endemic frog fauna, the biogeographic history of which has generated intense debate, fueled by recent molecular phylogenetic analyses and the near absence of a fossil record. Here, we describe a recently discovered Late Cretaceous anuran that differs strikingly in size and morphology from extant Malagasy taxa and is unrelated either to them or to the predicted occupants of the Madagascar-Seychelles-India landmass when it separated from Africa 160 million years ago (Mya). Instead, the previously undescribed anuran is attributed to the Ceratophryinae, a clade previously considered endemic to South America. The discovery offers a rare glimpse of the anuran assemblage that occupied Madagascar before the Tertiary radiation of mantellids and microhylids that now dominate the anuran fauna. In addition, the presence of a ceratophryine provides support for a controversial paleobiogeographical model that posits physical and biotic links among Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent, and South America that persisted well into the Late Cretaceous. It also suggests that the initial radiation of hyloid anurans began earlier than proposed by some recent estimates.Anura ͉ Ceratophryinae ͉ Gondwana ͉ South America ͉ Hyloidea

The diverse Cretaceous neobatrachian fauna of South America: Uberabatrachus carvalhoi, a new frog from the Maastrichtian Marília Formation, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…Other Cretaceous putative neobatrachian materials (Fig. 7) consist of isolated bones (Báez, 1987;Báez and Werner, 1996;Sanchiz, 1998;Prasad and Rage, 2004;Evans et al, 2008;Szentesi and Venczel, 2010), making it difficult to make comparisons with Uberabatrachus.…”

“…The oldest records attributed to this lineage date back to the mid-Cretaceous of northeastern South America, already documenting an early diversification by that time . However, neobatrachian remains are still scarce throughout the rest of the Mesozoic, and they consist mainly of isolated bones of Senonian age (e.g., Evans et al, 2008;Szentesi and Venczel, 2010).…”

The double odyssey of Madagascan polystome flatworms leads to new insights on the origins of their amphibian hosts

“…Evans et al (2008) recently published a spectacular giant anuran fossil, Beelzebufo, from the latest Cretaceous of Madagascar which, unlike all recent Malagasy frogs, appears to belong to the hyloids. This demonstrates that representatives of this major lineage have been present in the Mesozoic of Madagascar.…”

First cranial remains of a gondwanatherian mammal reveal remarkable mosaicism

“…The long period of geographic isolation of Indo-Madagascar and then Madagascar resulted in a latest Cretaceous Malagasy fauna that included a range of other unusual taxa (for example, massive predatory frogs 43 , herbivorous crocodyliforms 44 , and variously specialized theropod dinosaurs [45][46][47] …”