Palaeobatrachus ('ancient frog') was a primitive frog from Central Europe that was extant from the Cretaceous to the Neogene periods (130-5 million years ago). Although not closely related, it resembled the present day African clawed toad Xenopus.
Description[]
Palaeobatrachus had a relatively broad skull the shape of a Gothic arch. Its body was relatively large, ranging from 8 to 10 centimetres (3.1 to 3.9 in) in length, and the female was usually larger than the male (sexual dimorphism).
Taxonomy[]
The Eocene genus Albionbatrachus was considered a synonym of Palaeobatrachus by Wuttke et al. (2012), but Roček et al. (2015) retained it as a separate taxon.
The nominal species Palaeobatrachus occidentalis was described from material found in the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene of western North America, but Roček (2013) questioned its generic attribution.