Markham's frog (''Leiopelma markhami'') is one of three

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

species, the others being the Aurora frog (''Leiopelma auroraensis'') and

Waitomo frog The Waitomo frog (''Leiopelma waitomoensis'') is an extinct species of the genus '' Leiopelma'' from New Zealand. The Waitomo frog's distribution was solely in the North Island of New Zealand. Its extinction is believed to have happened during ...

(''Leiopelma waitomoensis''). Subfossil bones used to describe the species were discovered at

Honeycomb Hill Cave Honeycomb Hill Cave is located in the Oparara Basin, on the northwestern edge of the South Island of New Zealand. The Oparara River flows through a section of the cave. The cave was discovered in 1976 by the Buller Caving Group. Since then, 14 ...

, South Island, New Zealand, but it once occurred on both South and North Islands. It is estimated that it grew between 50 and 60 mm from snout to vent and it appears to have been a very robust animal.

References

Leiopelmatidae Extinct animals of New Zealand Amphibians of New Zealand Holocene extinctions Amphibians described in 1987 Extinct amphibians Endemic amphibians of New Zealand {{Anura-stub

See also

References