Vieraella
Vieraella is an extinct genus of frog from the Jurassic Roca Blanca Formation of Argentina, and the oldest true frog known.
| Vieraella Temporal range: Early Jurassic | |
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| Genus: | Vieraella |
| Species: | Vieraella herbsti Reig, 1961 |
Description
Despite living around 200 million years ago, Vieraella was anatomically very similar to modern frogs. For example, its hind legs were adapted for jumping, and the skull already possessed the lattice-like form found in modern species. It was, however, an unusually small frog, measuring only 3 centimetres (1.2 in) in length. Although older frog-like creatures are known, such as Triadobatrachus, these possessed many primitive characteristics, and cannot be said to be "true" frogs.[1]
gollark: If you value them, you need to stay around to wipe them out.
gollark: However, what about OTHER possible intelligent species (or future humans of some sort)?
gollark: Well, yes, negative utilitarianism bad.
gollark: You can actually apply this to lots of things, like how the memetic evolution process doesn't select for "good" ideas but good-at-spreading ideas.
gollark: negative_utilitarianism_irl
References
- Palmer, D., ed. (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 56. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
Further reading
- Estes, R., and O. A. Reig. 1973. The early fossil record of frogs: a review of the evidence. pp. 11–63 In J. L. Vial (Ed.), Evolutionary Biology of the Anurans: Contemporary Research on Major Problems. University of Missouri Press, Columbia.
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