A new anuran family from the fossil sites of Langebaanweg and Cooper’s Cave, South Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACTEnigmatic frog ilia were recovered from two geographically and temporally disparate fossil sites in South Africa, namely the Early Pliocene (5.1 Ma) fossil site of Langebaanweg (south-western Cape), and Cooper’s Cave D (Northern province), which dates to around 1.38 Ma. The fossil ilia appear to represent an extinct anuran genus that subsisted in southern Africa over several million years, had a previously undocumented mode of locomotion, and possibly exceptional jumping ability. Relative to extant anurans, the fossil ilia show a unique suite of characteristics pertaining to the acetabulum, dorsal protuberance, ventral ridge of the shaft, and dorsal crest; features which would have facilitated and stabilised jumping.KEYWORDS: LangebaanwegCooper’s Caveiliummicrofaunaanuran AcknowledgementsThe support of the GENUS DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences Grant 86073 towards this research is gratefully acknowledged. TM received financial support from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Many thanks to Muofhe Tshibalanganda at the CAF CT scan facility (Stellenbosch University) for much assistance and support.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).