Article: A discoglossid frog from the Middle Jurassic of England
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
33
Part:
2
Publication Date:
May
1990
Page(s):
299
–
311
Author(s):
Susan E. Evans, Andrew R. Milner and Frances Mussett
Abstract
A discoglossid frog, Eodiscoglossus oxoniensis sp. nov. is described from the Upper Bathonian Forest Marble of Oxfordshire. It closely resembles Eodiscoglossus santonjae from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary of Spain but can be distinguished by characteristics of the ilium and premaxillary. The E. oxoniensis specimens represent the earliest European material critically identifiable as a frog and the earliest discoglossid yet recognised. An association of Eodiscoglossus with Albanerpeton and a Marmorerpeton-like salamander may have characterized certain freshwater ecosystems in Europe for about 50 million years from the Bathonian to the Barremian-Aptian.