.i.Palaeobatrachus eurydices./i., sp. nov. (Amphibia, Anura), the last Western European palaeobatrachid

0465850 - GLÚ 2017 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Villa, A. - Roček, Zbyněk - Tschopp, E. - van den Hoek Ostende, L. W. - Delfino, M.
Palaeobatrachus eurydices, sp. nov. (Amphibia, Anura), the last Western European palaeobatrachid.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Roč. 36, č. 6 (2016), č. článku e1211664. ISSN 0272-4634. E-ISSN 1937-2809
Institutional support: RVO:67985831
Keywords : Palaeobatrachus * Palaeobatrachus eurydices * Anura
Subject RIV: DB - Geology ; Mineralogy
Impact factor: 2.114, year: 2016

Disarticulated remains of palaeobatrachids coming from the early Pleistocene (Gelasian) of Tegelen (The
Netherlands) are here described and referred to the new species Palaeobatrachus eurydices. The new species has been included in the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis considering all known species of the genus Palaeobatrachus and was found to be the sister taxon of the Oligocene/Miocene P. robustus. Palaeobatrachus eurydices + P. robustus form a clade with P. langhae, and this latter clade is sister to all other Palaeobatrachus species. Extreme adaptation to permanent life in water is evidenced in P. eurydices by absence of the fossa cubitalis ventralis, and less developed olecranon on the radioulna. The water-rich and warm environment of Tegelen, indicated by other elements of the fauna such as beavers and the terrapin
Mauremys, could have acted as a refugium for these water-dwelling anurans, which were thought to have disappeared from western Europe by the Miocene/Pliocene boundary.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0264291