A new genus and species of discoglossid frog from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert

Abstract

ABSTRACT Gobiates kermeentsavi, n. gen., n. sp., from the Cretaceous of the Gobi desert, Mongolian People's Republic, is characterized by a large fontanelle in the frontoparietal, a complete maxillary arch, sculptured cranial bones and probable amphicoelous vertebrae with ribs. It is referred to the Discoglossidae, near the Discoglossus-group, because it possesses prootics with an extensive lateral projection, and a sphenethmoid with only a short rostral process. “Eopelobates” leptocolaptus Borsuk-Bialynicka (1978), originally referred to the Pelobatidae, is referred here to Gobiates. The new genus has certain morphological features in common with Pelobatidae, although for the most part these characters appear to be correlated with the presence of a wide semicircular head and the presence of dermal skull sculpture. Gobiates may be related to such fossil discoglossids as Scotiophryne (Cretaceous, North America) and Latonia (Late Cretaceous–Middle Cenozoic, Eurasia).