Under Construction

Eodiscoglossus santonjaegroup is extinct

David Cannatella
Containing group: Anura

Introduction

This is among the best-preserved of "discoglossid" fossils and is from the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous (Estes and Reig 1973). The single specimen is about 28 mm long and is from the well-known lithographic limestones at Montsech, Spain.

Phylogenetic Position of Eodiscoglossus santonjae

Two features are particularly relevant to the placement of this frog: eight presacral vertebrae and the lack of carpal torsion in the wrist bones. The former character indicates that this taxon is located above the tree level of Ascaphus and Leiopelma, which both have nine presacral vertebrae. The latter feature indicates that it is below the clade Pipanura, for which carpal torsion is a diagnostic feature. Its placement in the tree is considered a conservative statement of its relationships.

References

Estes, R., and O. A. Reig. 1973. The early fossil record of frogs: a review of the evidence. Pages 11-63 in Evolutionary Biology of the Anurans (J. L. Vial, ed.) University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri.

Sanchíz, B. 1998. Salientia. 275 pp. Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology (P. Wellnhofer, ed.) Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München.

About This Page

David Cannatella
University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to David Cannatella at

Page: Tree of Life Eodiscoglossus santonjae. Authored by David Cannatella. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Cannatella, David. 1995. Eodiscoglossus santonjae. Version 01 January 1995 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Eodiscoglossus_santonjae/16970/1995.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Leaf Page.

Each ToL leaf page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a leaf at the tip of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a leaf and a branch of the Tree of Life is that a leaf cannot generally be further subdivided into subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Eodiscoglossus santonjae

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top