New material of Beelzebufo, a hyperossified frog (Amphibia: Anura) from the late cretaceous of Madagascar.

ABSTRACT: The extant anuran fauna of Madagascar is exceptionally rich and almost completely endemic. In recent years, many new species have been described and understanding of the history and relationships of this fauna has been greatly advanced by molecular studies, but very little is known of the fossil history of frogs on the island. Beelzebufo ampinga, the first named pre-Holocene frog from Madagascar, was described in 2008 on the basis of numerous disarticulated cranial and postcranial elements from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Maevarano Formation of Madagascar. These specimens documented the presence of a hyperossified taxon that differed strikingly from extant Malagasy frogs in its large size and heavy coarse cranial exostosis. Here we describe and analyse new, articulated, and more c

SUBMITTER: Evans SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3905036 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature