Status of Protobatrachus massinoti

Abstract

THE history of the Amphibia Salientia can readily be traced back to the Jurassic when it appears that, skeletally at least, they were already typical, modern Anura. The pre-Jurassic history of frogs, however, was completely unknown until 1937 when Piveteau¹ described Protobatrachus massinoti from the lower Trias of Madagascar. To accommodate Protobatrachus, Piveteau denned a new order, the Proanura, differing from the Anura chiefly in possessing a tail but no urostyle and with the tibia and fibula, radius and ulna, unfused.