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Australobatrachia
Australobatrachia ("southern frogs") is a clade of Frog, frogs in the suborder Neobatrachia. It comprises three Family (biology), families of frogs with a Gondwana, Gondwanan distribution, being known from Chile, Australia, and New Guinea. Together, they form the sister group to the superfamily Hyloidea. Taxonomy The common ancestor of all three families inhabited South America during the Early Cretaceous (about 125 million years ago). By about 100 million years ago, the ancestors of the Calyptocephalellidae diverged from the Myobatrachoidea, as the ancestral Myobatrachoidea moved south, colonizing the Australian continent via the Antarctic land bridge. The two families within Myobatrachoidea diverged from each other later in the Cretaceous or during the earliest Paleocene. Australobatrachia contains the following subgroups: * Calyptocephalellidae - Chilean toads (5 species) * Myobatrachoidea ** Limnodynastidae - Australian ground frogs (44 species) ** Myobatrachidae - Aust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calyptocephalellidae
The Calyptocephalellidae are a family of toads (although not true members of the Bufonidae) found in Chile containing two living genera, '' Calyptocephalella'' and '' Telmatobufo.'' The genus ''Calyptocephalella'' contains one living species, the helmeted water toad (''C. gayi''), which is very large and mostly aquatic. The genus ''Telmatobufo'' contains four species, '' T. australis'', '' T. bullocki'', '' T. ignotus'', and '' T. venustus''. All five living species within the family are considered threatened, with ''T. bullocki'' and ''T. venustus'' being classified as critically endangered. The family has been present in southern South America since the Late Cretaceous and were present in the Antarctic Peninsula during the Eocene. While originally widespread in Patagonia east of the Andes, they later became extinct in this region after the Late Miocene, likely due to increasingly cold and arid conditions. A particularly large indeterminate fossil species is known from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyloidea
Hyloidea is a superfamily of frogs.R.Alexander Pyron, John J.Wiens, 2011, ''A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians'' Hyloidea accounts for 54% of all living anuran species. The superfamily Hyloidea branched off from its closest relative, the Australobatrachia, during the mid-Cretaceous. The fossil evidence found during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event could not determine the effects upon the frogs, due to the lack of fossils. Increased forestation erupted after this extinction, possibly leading to more arboreal adaptations of these anurans to be best suited for this habitat. Taxonomy Hyloidea contains the following subgroups: * Allophrynidae – Tukeit Hill frogs (3 species) * Alsodidae – (26 species) *Batrachylidae – (14 species) *Bufonidae – true toads and harlequin frogs (700 species) *Brachycephaloidea **Brachycephalidae – saddleback toads, flea toads an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myobatrachoidea
Myobatrachoidea is a superfamily of frogs. It contains two families, both of which are found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands. Some sources group these two families into a single family Myobatrachidae. Their closest relatives are thought to be the Calyptocephalellidae of southern South America, from which they diverged during the mid-Cretaceous (about 100 million years ago). Together, they comprise the clade Australobatrachia; their common ancestor is thought to have inhabited South America, with the ancestors of Myobatrachoidea dispersing to Australasia during the Cretaceous via (then ice-free) Antarctica. Both families within Myobatrachoidea are thought to have diverged from each other during the Late Cretaceous or during the earliest Paleocene (immediately after the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event). The earliest fossils of this group are of '' Platypectrum casca'' from the Early Eocene. Taxonomy Myobatrachoidea contains the following families: * Limnod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, not from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250Myr, million years ago), but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their divergent evolution, divergence from other amphibians may exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Land Bridge
The Antarctic land bridge was a land bridge connecting the continents of South America, Antarctica, and Australia that existed from the Late Cretaceous to the Late Eocene. The land bridge consisted of the entire continent of Antarctica (at the time unglaciated), as well as much narrower, now-submerged landforms that connected Antarctica to both South America and Australia (with the land bridge between South America and Antarctica sometimes called the Weddellian Isthmus or the Isthmus of Scotia). At its greatest extent, the Antarctic land bridge allowed for a terrestrial connection between South America and Australia, allowing numerous animals and plants to disperse across both continents using it. The Antarctic land bridge came to an end during the Late Eocene or Early Oligocene, when the formation of both the Drake Passage and Tasmanian Passage cut off any further land connections of either continent with Antarctica. These openings also created the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neobatrachia
The Neobatrachia (Neo-Latin ''neo-'' ("new") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) are a suborder of the Frog, Anura, the order (biology), order of frogs and toads. This suborder is the most advanced and apomorphic of the three anuran suborders alive today, hence its name, which literally means "new frogs" (from the hellenic languages, hellenic words ''neo'', meaning "new" and ''batrachia'', meaning "frogs"). It is also by far the largest of the three; its more than 5,000 different species make up over 96% of all living anurans. The differentiation between Archaeobatrachia, Mesobatrachia, and Neobatrachia is based primarily on anatomic differences, especially the skeletal structure, as well as several visible characteristics and behaviors. Systematics Separating the Frog, Anura into the Archaeo-, Meso- and Neobatrachia is somewhat controversial; as more research is done and more knowledge is gained, it is becoming even less clear, because many characteristics used for this differentiati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calyptocephalella Gayi
''Calyptocephalella'' is a genus of frogs in the family Calyptocephalellidae. It is represented by a single living species, ''Calyptocephalella gayi'', commonly known as the helmeted water toad, Chilean helmeted bull frog, or wide-mouthed toad. Additionally, there are a few extinct species that are only known from Late Cretaceous and Paleogene fossil remains from Patagonia in South America and the Antarctic Peninsula (at times when it was warmer and wetter). The helmeted water toad living today is aquatic to semi-aquatic, and found in deep ponds and reservoirs in central Chile and possibly adjacent west-central Argentina.AmphibiaWeb: Calyptocephalella gayi.' Retrieved 21 March 2015. This very large frog typically weighs up to , but sometimes considerably more. It is the world's second largest frog after the goliath frog. It is threatened by capture for human consumption, habitat loss, pollution, introduced species and the disease chytridiomycosis. It is often kept in herpetocultu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist. Early life and education Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history. The discovery, by chance, of a buzzard's nest led him to the study of birds, and a meeting with Christian Ludwig Brehm. Schlegel started to work for his father, but soon tired of it. He travelled to Vienna in 1824, where, at the university, he attended the lectures of Leopold Fitzinger and Johann Jacob Heckel. A letter of introduction from Brehm to Joseph Natterer gained him a position at the Naturhistorisches Museum. Ornithological career One year after his arrival, the director of this natural history museum, Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers, recommended him to Coenraad Jacob Temminck, director of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, natural history museum of Leiden, who was seeking an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osvaldo Reig
Osvaldo Alfredo Reig (14 August 1929 – 13 March 1992) was an Argentine biologist and paleontologist. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He made numerous contributions in the fields of paleontology and biological evolution. He studied at the Universidad de La Plata, but did not complete his studies. Later he worked at the University of Buenos Aires in the Department of Biological Sciences working with the biological evolution of mammals. In 1966 he began work at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He worked for almost fifteen years at the Central University of Venezuela and the Simón Bolívar University. In 1973 he received his PhD in Zoology and Paleontology from the University of London. Among the important papers he authored was the description of ''Herrerasaurus'', one of the earliest dinosaurs known. In 1955, Reig was a founding member of the Asociación Paleontológica Argentina alongside Mathilde Dolgopol de Sáez Mathilde Dolgopol de S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleobiology Database
The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Paleofaunal Database initiative, which operated from August 1998 through August 2000. From 2000 to 2015, PBDB received funding from the National Science Foundation. PBDB also received support form the Australian Research Council. From 2000 to 2010 it was housed at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, a cross-disciplinary research center within the University of California, Santa Barbara. It is currently housed at University of Wisconsin-Madison and overseen by an international committee of major data contributors. The Paleobiology Database works closely with the Neotoma Paleoecology Database, which has a similar intellectual history, but has focused on the Quaternary (with an emphasis on the late Pleistocene and Holoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleocene
The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by an asteroid impact (Chicxulub impact) and possibly volcanism (Deccan Traps), marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
