Barremian anurans of the Iberian Peninsula: new insights into their taxonomic diversity

Abstract

The Barremian continental successions of the Iberian Peninsula have yielded numerous remains of anurans. Some of these finds consist of fragmentary bones whereas others furnish more complete evidence on the skeletal morphology and proportions of the represented taxa. Notwithstanding the foregoing, most of these records have been ascribed either to the relatively basal extant costatan clade or to the poorly known extinct genus Eodiscoglossus Villalta, 1954 based on insufficient data. Recent revisions of some of these materials have demonstrated the presence of traits presumably plesiomorphic and unknown in extant costatans, thereby casting doubts on their phylogenetic placements. Herein two specimens from the upper Barremian Las Hoyas Konservat-lagerstätte are thoroughly described and compared, providing evidence of additional anuran taxa in this site. One of these specimens, initially reported as cf. Eodiscoglossus, is referred to Wealdenbatrachus Fey, 1988, a genus already described in the coeval fossil site of Uña. Another specimen consisting of a partial postcranial skeleton is documented by a latex-rubber cast and a photograph; it represents a new taxon whose phylogenetic position remains uncertain due to the incompleteness of the available evidence. Comments on a third specimen that might belong to another taxon are included, although its detailed description awaits its full preparation. The overview of the Barremian taxa currently recognized from Iberia reveals the co-occurrence of taxa of different sizes, body proportions, and lifestyles, suggesting some ecological partitioning in consonance with the heterogeneous habitats represented in the yielding fossil sites.