''Prosalirus'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of primitive

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

known from the

Early Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...

of North America. It contains a single species, ''P. bitis'', known from the

Kayenta Formation The Kayenta Formation is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the Colorado Plateau area of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Originally suggested as being Sinemur ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

.''Geographica''; "Jurassic Frog hops into the record book", National Geographic; August 1996, pg.5.

Description

The fossils of ''P. bitis'' were discovered in 1981 by Farish Jenkins, who noted their distinctive hind legs for jumping. Only three skeletons were discovered. Jenkins would describe the species in 1995 alongside Neil Shubin. The genus name derives from ''prosalire'',

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "leap forward", while ''bitis'' derives from the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

word for "high above it". The skeleton has primitive features, but has mostly lost the salamander-like traits of its ancestors. It has a skeleton designed to absorb the force of jumping with its hind legs and tail. It also has long hip bones, long hind leg bones, and long ankle bones, all similar to modern frogs, and is as of 2009 the earliest true frog. It is thought to have lived during the

epoch 190 million years ago, well before the first known modern frog, '' Callobatrachus''.

Habitat

The ''Prosalirus'' is believed to have lived in brackish, freshwater, and terrestrial environments.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2117594 Early Jurassic amphibians Jurassic amphibians of North America Early Jurassic animals of North America Jurassic Arizona Paleontology in Arizona Transitional fossils Kayenta Formation Fossil taxa described in 1995 Early Jurassic genus first appearances Early Jurassic extinctions