A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders

Jason S. Anderson (), Robert R. Reisz, Diane Scott, Nadia B. Fröbisch and Stuart S. Sumida
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Jason S. Anderson: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
Robert R. Reisz: University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
Diane Scott: University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada
Nadia B. Fröbisch: Redpath Museum, McGill University, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, Québec H3A 2K6, Canada
Stuart S. Sumida: California State University at San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, California 92407-2307, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 453, issue 7194, 515-518

Abstract: An amphibian evolution: Bridging the gap The origin of the amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) is one of the most controversial questions in vertebrate evolution, because of the large morphological and temporal gaps between today's amphibians and the extinct fossil forms. The discovery of an unusually complete Palaeozoic amphibian from the Early Permian of Texas has now helped to fill that gap. The new fossil has the overall appearance of a temnospondyl — an archaic amphibian — but boasts many characteristic features seen in modern frogs, toads and salamanders. A phylogenetic analysis splits the modern amphibia into two groups, separating at some time before 330 million years ago, with frogs, toads and salamanders related to temnospondyls, and caecilians more closely related to the lepospondyls, another group of archaic amphibians.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06865

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