Prosalirus

Prosalirus Temporal range: Early Jurassic {Sinemurian–Toarcian), 195.2–182.7 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Prosalirus bitis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	†Prosaliridae
Genus:	†Prosalirus Shubin & Jenkins, 1995
Type species
Prosalirus bitis Shubin & Jenkins, 1995

Prosalirus is the name given to a fossilised prehistoric frog found in the Kayenta Formation of Arizona in 1981 by Farish Jenkins and distinguished by its hind legs for jumping ^[2] The type, and currently only, species is Prosalirus bitis.

Description

Farish Jenkin named it after a Latin word meaning "leap forward" and a Navajo word for "high above it".^[3]

The skeleton has primitive features, but has mostly lost the salamander-like traits of its ancestors. It has a skeleton designed to absorb the force of jumping with its hind legs and tail. It also has long hip bones, long hind leg bones, and long ankle bones, all similar to modern frogs, and is as of 2009 the earliest true frog. ^[1]

The name comes from the Latin verb prosalire, meaning 'to leap forward'. It is thought to have lived during the Early Jurassic epoch 190 million years ago, well before the first known modern frog, Callobatrachus.^[4]

As of 2020, only three Prosalirus skeletons have been discovered.^[1]

Habitat

The Prosalirus is believed to have lived in brackish, freshwater, and terrestrial environments.^[5]

References

1. Douglas Palmer; et al. (2009). Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth (first American ed.). New York City: DK Publishing. p. 247. ISBN 9780756655730.
2. Geographica; "Jurassic Frog hops into the record book", National Geographic; August 1996, pg.5.
3. "Farish Jenkins | The Economist". The Economist. 2012-11-17. Archived from the original on 2012-11-17. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
4. Neil H. Shubin and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr (7 September 1995). "An Early Jurassic jumping frog". Nature. 377 (6544): 49–52. Bibcode:1995Natur.377...49S. doi:10.1038/377049a0. S2CID 4308225.
5. "Prosalirus". Hudson. 7 May 2020.