The oldest known anuran (frog) trackways from the Jinju Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Korea

Abstract

Newly discovered frog tracks from the Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian–lower Albian) Jinju Formation, South Korea, represent only the second report from Asia, and only the third global report from the Mesozoic. They are also the oldest reported from the fossil record, and can be assigned to Ranipes isp. indet. These tracks add to the rapidly growing list of small tetrapod tracks recovered from large excavations in the Jinju Formation, in Jinju City. Such small tracks owe their preservation to an abundance of fine-grained lacustrine sediments suitable for registration of small tetrapod tracks that are generally very rare or absent from most facies. The trackways indicate hopping locomotion.