Forever enclosed in amber along with its meal, a cockroach. It is the fate of a now extinct frog. About 99 million years ago, the tiny creature that lived in present-day Myanmar was suddenly trapped in amber. It is the fossil of the oldest rainforest frog
Forever enclosed in amber along with its meal, a cockroach. It is the fate of a now extinct frog. About 99 million years ago, the tiny creature that lived in present-day Myanmar was suddenly trapped in amber. It is the fossil of the oldest rainforest frog.
Electrorana limoae is one of four fossils to provide the first direct evidence of the presence of frogs in tropical forests. Furthermore,
"It's nearly impossible to find a fossil frog from that time period given the tiny size," said David Blackburn, study co-author for the Florida Museum of Natural History. “But what's most exciting is its context. These frogs were part of a tropical ecosystem that, in some ways, may not have been that different from what we find today. "
Frogs have lived on Earth for at least 200 million years, but admiring their heyday is difficult. Small frogs often don't tend to keep well. The toad fossil repertoire is often confusing, suggesting the presence of more robust species lived in arid environments, even though most frogs now live in tropical forests.
The amber deposits of northern Myanmar, in Southeast Asia, provide a unique record of ancient forest ecosystems, with fossil records of mosses, bamboo-like plants, water spiders and other beautiful creatures. The discovery of Electrorana and the other fossils, the first frogs recovered from these deposits, help to increase scientists' understanding of frogs in the Cretaceous period, showing that they have inhabited humid and tropical forests for at least 99 million years.
The frogs preserved in amber are therefore a real rarity. The other specimens have been found in the Dominican Republic and Mexico and date back to approximately 40 million and 25 million years ago, respectively.
Just under 2 cm long, the Electrorana has kept its characteristics intact. In amber, the skull, the forelimbs, part of the spine, a partial hind limb along with an unidentified beetle are clearly visible. The other amber fossils contain two legs and the footprint of a frog that probably decomposed within the resin.
But Electrorana raises more questions than answers, Blackburn said. Many features used by herpetologists to study the details of a frog's history and determine how they relate to other frogs were either missing or not fully developed in the young specimen.
This special find, however, could help reconstruct the ancient evolutionary relationships, clarifying how the Electrorana fits into the frog's tree of life.
The results were published on Scientific Reports.
Electrorana limoae DIP-L-3 by UF Herpetology on Sketchfab
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Francesca Mancuso
