''Rhadinosteus parvus'' (meaning "long slender bone") is an extinct
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
of prehistoric
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s that lived during the
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
.
[Foster, J. (2007). "''Rhadinosteus parvus''." ''Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World''. Indiana University Press. p. 137.] Fossils of the species were found at the Rainbow Park site in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
's
Dinosaur National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument is an American national monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers. Although most of the monument area is i ...
, from several slabs of rock which contain multiple partial specimens, from sediments belonging to the
Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...
. ''R. parvus'' was likely a member of
Pipoidea and may have been a member of the family
Rhinophrynidae.
[Foster, J. (2007). "Appendix." ''Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World''. Indiana University Press. pp. 327-329.]
Description
''Rhadinosteus parvus'' was a moderately sized frog, 42mm in length. Unlike the other members of Pipoidea its skeleton is not specialized for any specific task (such as aquatic life in
Pipimorpha
Pipimorpha is an unranked clade containing all frogs which are more closely related to living Pipidae species than to living '' Rhinophrynus'' species. Members of this group are highly adapted to aquatic life. The oldest pipimorphs are '' Neusib ...
species).
See also
*
List of prehistoric amphibians
This list of prehistoric amphibians is an attempt to create a comprehensive listing of all genera from the fossil record that have ever been considered to be amphibians, excluding purely vernacular terms. The list includes all commonly accepted g ...
*
Paleobiota of the Morrison Formation
References
Mesozoic frogs
Late Jurassic amphibians
Morrison fauna
Rhinophrynidae
Fossil taxa described in 1998
Prehistoric amphibian genera
{{mesobatrachia-stub