[Taxacom] Ratites and frogs of New Zealand

[Ken Kinman]

John,
    The most comprehensive (and recent) review is "The Amphibian tree of 
life" (Frost et al., 2006; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297:1-370).  The 
molecular data is congruent with the morphological data put forth back in 
1993 (when clade Leiopelmatanura was first proposed).

     Although I didn't mention the tuataras in my last post, I think you are 
probably wrong about that as well.  But it would be difficult to prove given 
the paucity of the fossil record for Sphenodontidae (especially in the 
Cenozoic after the K-T extinction almost wiped them out).  But sampling in 
the Mesozoic is getting better, and just a few years ago they discovered 
many specimens of a new genus Priosphenodon in the Cretaceous of Patagonia.

     Whether Sphenodon itself survived the K-T extinction in South America, 
Antarctica, or Australia, is anybody's guess.  Right now I would bet on 
Australia, so tell all your Australian paleontologist colleagues to be on 
the lookout for Sphenodon fossils in the early or mid-Cenozoic.  If I am 
right, they won't ever find any in the early Cenozoic of New Zealand.  We 
shall see.
   ---Cheers,
          Ken Kinman

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