Of Frogs and Men

Neobatrchian’s comprise more than 95% of all living frogs (and thus the bulk of living amphibians). Until recently, the earliest fossil record of this diverse group was based on a few records from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian). In a recent paper in Cretaceous Research, Ana Báez and colleagues describe several new frog taxa from the upper portion of the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian). Via a cladisitic analysis, the authors nicely demonstrate that at least two of these new taxa are nested well within Neobatrchia, thus demonstrating that these are the earliest representatives of this diverse clade.