A new species of platymantis (Anura: Ranidae) from quaternary deposits on Viti Levu, Fiji

Abstract

Fossil bones of the frog Platymantis are reported for the first time. Platymantis megabotoniviti sp. nov. is described from fossil bones of late Quaternary age from caves on Viti Levu, Fiji, south-west Pacific, where it was associated with fossils of the extant P. vitianus and P. vitiensis. The new species is much larger than any extant congeners, and its robust form indicates that it was a ground-dwelling frog. It appears to have become extinct in the late Holocene after humans arrived on Fiji with commensal rodents.