A new palaeobatrachid frog from the Eocene of the British Isles

Abstract

ABSTRACT Albionbatrachus wightensis n.gen. et sp. from the late Eocene of the Isle of Wight is the only representative of the family Palaeobatrachidae known from England. A. wightensis differs from most palaeobatrachids in having dorsal skull bones with prominent sculpturing and an hourglass-shaped frontoparietal bone. It agrees with other members of the family in having a synsacrum, procoelous vertebrae, and an azygous frontoparietal. The fossil palaeobatrachid described as Palaeobatrachus sp. by Vergnaud-Grazzini and Hoffstetter from Oligo-Miocene deposits at Laugnac, France, shows close resemblance to A. wightensis and is also included in the new genus Albionbatrachus.