| Indobatrachus Temporal range: Early Paleocene, 62.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ | |
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| Illustration of fossil specimens | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Suborder: | Neobatrachia |
| Genus: | †Indobatrachus Noble, 1930 |
| Species: | †I. pusillus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Indobatrachus pusillus (Owen, 1847) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Indobatrachus (Greek for "Indian frog") is an extinct genus of frog known from the Early Paleocene (Danian) of India. It contains a single species, Indobatrachus pusillus. Two other species, I. trivialis and I. malabaricus, were also previously described, but these have since been synonymized with I. pusillus.
Indobatrachus was a very small frog, only 20 millimetres (0.79 in) long as an adult. It is known from numerous complete but poorly-preserved specimens (known by Richard Owen as "batracholites") from the Intertrappean Beds of Worli Hill, Mumbai. The stratigraphy of the specimens is disputed; they were originally dated to the Early Eocene, but later thought to be latest Cretaceous in age (66 mya). However, more recently, the intertrappean rocks around Mumbai have been dated to the late Danian, around 62.5 million years ago, representing the youngest eruptive event in the western Deccan volcanic province.
The taxonomy of this genus is debated; it was previously classified within the Australian frog superfamily Myobatrachoidea by many authors, including Owen, but such a relationship is now considered dubious or untenable, with only some vertebral similarities linking the two groups. Alternatively, it may represent a member of the superfamily Sooglossoidea, another ancient group that is thought to have originated on Insular India during the Cretaceous.
References
- Owen (1847). "On the Batracholites, indicative of a small species of Frog (Rana pusilla, Ow.). Addendum to the Communication from G. T. Clark, Esq., Bombay". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 3 (1–2): 224–225. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1847.003.01-02.24. ISSN 0370-291X. S2CID 130170290.
- ^ Dhobale, Anup; Mohabey, Dhananjay M.; Samant, Bandana; Sangode, Satish J.; Kumar, Deepesh (2024). "Fossil Squamata and Anura from sediments associated with oldest lava piles of Deccan Trap Supergroup (Upper Cretaceous-lower Paleocene), India". Historical Biology. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2418914. ISSN 0891-2963.
- "Fossilworks: Indobatrachus pusillus". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- Metcalf, M. M. (12 December 1930). "A Fossil Frog, Indobatrachus Noble, from the Eocene of Southwestern India". Science. 72 (1876): 602–603. Bibcode:1930Sci....72..602M. doi:10.1126/science.72.1876.602. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17756365.
- ^ Folie, Annelise (2012). "Early Eocene frogs from Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0063. ISSN 0567-7920. S2CID 55406707.
- ^ Špinar, Zdeněk V.; Hodrová, Marcela (1985). "New knowledge of the genus Indobatrachus (Anura) from the Lower Eocene of India". Amphibia-Reptilia. 6 (4): 363–376. doi:10.1163/156853885x00353. ISSN 0173-5373.
- Kale, Vivek S.; Dole, Gauri; Shandilya, Priyanka; Pande, Kanchan (18 June 2019). "Stratigraphy and correlations in Deccan Volcanic Province, India: Quo vadis?". GSA Bulletin. 132 (3–4): 588–607. doi:10.1130/B35018.1. ISSN 0016-7606.
- Tyler, Michael J. (1974). "First frog fossils from Australia". Nature. 248 (5450): 711–712. Bibcode:1974Natur.248..711T. doi:10.1038/248711b0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4206559.
- Biju, S. D.; Bossuyt, Franky (2003). "New frog family from India reveals an ancient biogeographical link with the Seychelles". Nature. 425 (6959): 711–714. doi:10.1038/nature02019. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 14562102. S2CID 4425593.
| Taxon identifiers | |
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| Rana pusilla | |