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A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders

Author

Listed:
  • Jason S. Anderson

    (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada)

  • Robert R. Reisz

    (University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada)

  • Diane Scott

    (University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada)

  • Nadia B. Fröbisch

    (Redpath Museum, McGill University, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, Québec H3A 2K6, Canada)

  • Stuart S. Sumida

    (California State University at San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, California 92407-2307, USA)

Abstract

An amphibian evolution: Bridging the gap The origin of the amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) is one of the most controversial questions in vertebrate evolution, because of the large morphological and temporal gaps between today's amphibians and the extinct fossil forms. The discovery of an unusually complete Palaeozoic amphibian from the Early Permian of Texas has now helped to fill that gap. The new fossil has the overall appearance of a temnospondyl — an archaic amphibian — but boasts many characteristic features seen in modern frogs, toads and salamanders. A phylogenetic analysis splits the modern amphibia into two groups, separating at some time before 330 million years ago, with frogs, toads and salamanders related to temnospondyls, and caecilians more closely related to the lepospondyls, another group of archaic amphibians.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason S. Anderson & Robert R. Reisz & Diane Scott & Nadia B. Fröbisch & Stuart S. Sumida, 2008. "A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders," Nature, Nature, vol. 453(7194), pages 515-518, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:453:y:2008:i:7194:d:10.1038_nature06865
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06865
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    Cited by:

    1. Jade B Atkins & Robert R Reisz & Hillary C Maddin, 2019. "Braincase simplification and the origin of lissamphibians," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, March.

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