Pelodytidae BONAPARTE , 1850

Rage, Jean-Claude, 2016, Frogs (Amphibia, Anura) From The Eocene And Oligocene Of The Phosphorites Du Quercy (France). An Overview, Fossil Imprint 72 (1 - 2), pp. 53-66 : 56

Pelodytidae BONAPARTE, 1850

Pelodytidae are a small family that includes a single extant genus, Pelodytes BONAPARTE, 1838 . The genus inhabits disjunct areas, i.e. southwestern Europe and the Caucasus region. An extinct species, P. arevacus SANCHIZ, 1978 , was described from the Miocene of Spain ( Sanchiz 1978, 1998). The family is known also from North America where it is represented by Miopelodytes gilmorei TAYLOR, 1941 from the middle Miocene of Nevada, U.S.A. ( Taylor 1941, Sanchiz 1998). Moreover, a stem pelodytid ( Aerugoamnis paulus HENRICI, BÁEZ et GRANDE, 2013 ) was described from the early Eocene of Wyoming, the U.S.A. ( Henrici et al. 2013).

Pelodytids were reported from the Phosphorites, but no species was described. All specimens suggest a taxon similar to Pelodytes , if not Pelodytes itself. They were referred to as cf. Pelodytes ( Crochet et al. 1981, Rage 1984a, 1988, 2006, Duffaud 2000). In the Phosphorites, cf. Pelodytes was recovered only from Eocene localities. The identification of this taxon was more or less questioned by Henrici et al. (2013), therefore description of the specimens, including a recently recovered tibiale-fibulare, is warranted.