Eurycephalella

Eurycephalella is an extinct genus of frogs which existed in what is now Brazil during the Early Cretaceous (Aptian). It was named by Ana M. Báez, Geraldo J.B. Moura and Raúl O. Gómez in 2009, and the type species is Eurycephalella alcinae.[1]

Eurycephalella Temporal range: Aptian ~112 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Suborder:	Neobatrachia
Superfamily:	Hyloidea
Genus:	Eurycephalella Báez et al. 2009
Species
E. alcinae et al. 2009 (type)

Discovery

Eurycephalella was discovered within the limestone predominant Crato Formation of the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil.[1][2] The specimen is the partial skeleton of an adult, and is in the collection of the Museum of Paleontology in Santana do Cariri.[2]

Although the fossil was originally assigned to the genus Arariphrynus (Leal and Brito, 2006), it was later changed to Eurycephalella.[1]

Description

Eurycephalella alcinae was a carnivorous frog that lived in or around a large lake or "thermally stratified lagoon".[2]

References

1. Ana M. Báez; Geraldo J.B. Moura & Raúl O. Gómez (2009). "Anurans from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of northeastern Brazil: implications for the early divergence of neobatrachians". Cretaceous Research. 30 (4): 829–846. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2009.01.002.
2. http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=basicCollectionSearch&collection_no=92097, PaleoBiology Database, Barbalha, Retrieved January 30, 2011.