African fossil Lissamphibia
Date
1995
Authors
van Dijk, D. E.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research
Abstract
The Anura (Frogs and Toads) are represented in Africa and associated regions by fossils of
every epoch from the Cretaceous to the Holocene. Pipid frogs of African affinity are known from
the Early Cretaceous of Israel and Later Cretaceous of South America and Africa; those of Israel
and South America have been well-studied, but only one from Africa has been: Eoxenopoides
reuningi from Namaqualand. Two well-studied Palaeocene frogs of South America, Shelania
pascuali and Xenopus romeri, have affinities with the African pipids. Apart from a Miocene
assemblage from North Africa (including pipids, which are now exclusively sub-Saharan) and one
species from Namibia, Xenopus stromeri, the fossil African anurans remain largely unstudied.
Deposits in which the African anuran fossils occur represent crater lakes, other lacustrine deposits,
including lacustrine tuffs, river terraces, deltas, estuarine/lagoon zones, karst landscapes and
archaeological sites; data are not available for several of the recorded fossils. No fossils in Africa
appear to have been definitely ascribed to the Urodela or Caecilia.
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