Ranoidea

The Ranoidea are a superfamily of frogs in the order Anura. Members of this superfamily are characterised by having the pectoral girdle fused into a single complex unit, having no ribs, and using an axillary grip during amplexus. The larvae have a single spiracle on the left side and complex mouthparts, or in some species, undergo direct development. The taxonomy of these families has been under heavy debate for many years. In recent studies, molecular data has been used to better identify the phylogentic relationships of these frogs, rearranging and introducing new subfamilies to better distinguish between large groups of frogs.

Ranoidea

Elroch · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
NeobatrachiaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Temnospondyli
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Temnospondyli
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 83 million years on record.

The record covers at least 83.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 89.8 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 2 of 547 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 547 occurrencesEocene — about 15 of 547 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 547 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 106 of 547 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 70 of 547 occurrencesPleistocene — about 319 of 547 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences55–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–49 Mya — about 1 occurrence49–46 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences46–43 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 3 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 5 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 3 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 6 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 4 occurrences21–18 Mya — about 6 occurrences18–15 Mya — about 17 occurrences15–12 Mya — about 24 occurrences12–9.2 Mya — about 24 occurrences9.2–6.1 Mya — about 26 occurrences6.1–3.1 Mya — about 64 occurrences3.1–0 Mya — about 357 occurrences83.6 Mya11.7 ka92 Mya0 Mya

547 occurrences of Ranoidea on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

547 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

63 formations

Alamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WPorsuk — 39.52°N, 31.67°EPorsuk — 39.36°N, 31.91°EPorsuk — 39.34°N, 31.92°ESpilia — 41.15°N, 23.48°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.91°N, 1.36°EValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.79°N, 100.07°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.44°N, 11.04°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.63°N, 11.80°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EProlemais — 40.50°N, 21.74°EKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.48°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WFleming — 30.80°N, 94.30°WFleming — 30.68°N, 95.05°Wfacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EKomnina — 40.43°N, 21.80°EAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WSajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°ECambay Shale — 21.35°N, 73.07°EChoremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°ETamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.78°N, 82.68°WXiacaowan — 33.45°N, 118.20°EPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EUttarbaini — 32.71°N, 74.85°E

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The named rock units Ranoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 39 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 380 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ranoidea and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ranoidea and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

3,639 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 384 sites for Ranoidea, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

204 references

Each of the 547 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 192 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Ranoidea

Credit
Elroch
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Ranoidea was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNeobatrachia through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1814