| Czatkobatrachus Temporal range: Early Triassic | |
|---|---|
| |
| Paleoart of Czatkobatrachus by Jacek Major. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Subclass: | Lissamphibia |
| Superorder: | Batrachia |
| Clade: | Salientia |
| Genus: | â Czatkobatrachus Borsuk-BiaĆynicka & Evans, 1998 |
| Type species | |
| â Czatkobatrachus polonicus Borsuk-BiaĆynicka & Evans, 1998 | |
Czatkobatrachus is an extinct genus of salientian amphibian from Poland. It lived during the Early Triassic epoch. Unlike modern frogs, Czatkobatrachus retained a distinct tail - albeit short. One species has been described, Czatkobatrachus polonicus.[1]
Discovery and Naming[]
Czatkowice limestone quarry. Photograoh from TAURON Group.
In 1998, paleontologists Susan Evans and Magdalena Borsuk-BiaĆynicka described Czatkobatrachus polonicus as a new species of stem frog from the Czatkowice quarry in Poland. The holotype element was a right ilium, ZPAL Ab IV/7. Known specimens are held in the collection of the Institute of Palaeobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
In 2009, the authors who described Czatkobatrachus reported several new postcranial bones from Czatkowice. Seventy-six specimens are catalogued from this species. No skull bones are known, due to an unknown reason.[2]
Description[]
Czatkobatrachus was a small amphibian. It measured 50 mm (1.97 in) from snout to vent.
Modern frogs (Anura) possess fused tail bones in a urostyle. Czatkobatrachus, like other basal salientians, had several unfused caudal vertebrae. Its tail was reduced, however, compared to more ancient amphibians.[2]
Classification[]
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Salientians. A = Triadobatrachus massinoti vertebrae and pelvis. B, C, E = Czatkobatrachus polonicus vertebrae, innominate, and pelvis. D = Pelobates fuscus innominate.
Salientia is a clade that includes Anura, the modern frogs, and several stem frog genera like Czatkobatrachus. C. polonicus was a close relative of the larger Malagasy Triadobatrachus massinoti. Both possessed elongated frog-like ilium bones and reduced rail sizes.
Being outside the true frogs, Czatkobatrachus lacked derived features such as a cartilaginous pubis and urostyle. However, it exhibited evolutionary stages present in frogs, including: greater limb power in locomotion and less lateral undulation; longer and more gracile limb bones; front cylindrical iliac shaft.[2]
It would not be until the Late Triassic/Jurassic that a radiation of anurans saw development of tadpole morphospaces. After the K-Pg Extinction, biotic turnovers saw an even greater diversity of tadpole designs.[3]
Paleoecology[]
The Czatkowice quarry preserved an ecosystem from the early Olenkian stage of the Triassic period, about 249 million BC. Animals found here include fishes, diapsids, and archisauriforms like Osmolskina.[4]
The anatomy of C. polonicus indicated that it was an agile and primarily terrestrial amphibian. It is possible that it hopped like modern frogs. The contemporary (in age) Triadobatrachus was larger and less land-geared than this Polish species.
Sources[]
- â Evans, S.E.; BorsukâBiaĆynicka, M. (1998). "A stem-group frog from the early Triassic of Poland". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 43: 573â580.
- â 2.0 2.1 2.2 Evans, Susan & Magdalena, Borsuk-BiaĆynicka. (2009). The Early Triassic stem-frog Czatkobatrachus from Poland. Palaeontologia Polonica. 65. 79-105.
- â K. Roelants, A. Haas, & F. Bossuyt, Anuran radiations and the evolution of tadpole morphospace, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108 (21) 8731-8736, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1100633108 (2011).
- â Borsuk-BiaĆynicka, Magdalena; Evans, Susan E. (2003). "A basal archosauriform from the Early Triassic of Poland" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 48 (4): 649â652.