Electrorana
Electrorana is an extinct genus of frog that lived in what is now Myanmar during the mid-Cretaceous, around 99 million years ago.[1] The type and only species is E. limoae.
| Electrorana Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype in Burmese amber | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Genus: | †Electrorana Xing et al., 2018 |
| Species: | †E. limoae |
| Binomial name | |
| †Electrorana limoae Xing et al., 2018 | |
Description
Electrorana was described on the basis of four different specimens found in Burmese amber, which show varying states of completeness. These specimens have a body length of 2 centimetres (0.79 in)[1] though it has been suggested that they are likely to have been juveniles.[2]
Taxonomy
Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Electrorana is a relatively basal frog that lies outside of Neobatrachia, with unclear relationships to living basal frog clades.[1][3] A close relationship with the extinct frog Aerugoamnis from the Eocene of North America has been found in some phylogenies.[1][3]
Ecology
Electrorana is thought to have lived in a tropical rainforest, making it one of the oldest known frogs to have inhabited such an environment.[1]
References
- Xing, L.; Stanley, E. L.; Bai, M.; Blackburn, D. C. (2018). "The earliest direct evidence of frogs in wet tropical forests from Cretaceous Burmese amber". Scientific Reports. 8: Article number: 8770. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26848-w. PMC 6002357. PMID 29904068.
- Roček, Zbyněk; Dong, Liping; Wang, Yuan (2023-04-27). "The Early Cretaceous frog Genibatrachus from China: Osteology, development, and palaeogeographic relations". Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. doi:10.1007/s12549-023-00579-x. ISSN 1867-1594.
- Zhang, Jing; Dong, Liping; Du, Baoxia; Li, Aijing; Lei, Xiangtong; Zhang, Mingzhen; Wang, Sen; Ma, Guorong; Hui, Jianguo (2023-01-01). "First fossil evidence for a new frog from the Early Cretaceous of the Jiuquan Basin, Gansu Province, north-western China". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 21 (1). doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2183146. ISSN 1477-2019.