New pipimorph from the Late Cretaceous of Niger

tIn Becetèn, in southeast Niger, is one of the few mid-Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) fossil-iferous localities in Africa where multiple anuran taxa are known. Two of them, Pachycentrata taquetiand Inbecetenanura ragei, have been described from In Becetèn. Both are pipids, a clade composed ofexclusively aquatic anurans. Beside these two pipids, numerous isolated bones have also been referredto anurans within the site, but never referred to any known less inclusive taxa. Here we describe severalidentified cranial and postcranial bones referable to Pipidae or its stem-group, which together constitutePipimorpha. Among these elements, three cranial elements are referred to two unnamed pipimorphs.One of these has gondwanomorph affinities (pipids + South American and African extinct pipimorphs).These conclusions are supported by our phylogenetic analyses. Numerous postcranial elements are notreferable to any of the four pipimorph taxa identified at In Becetèn, although some ilia might be tenta-tively referred to ?Pachycentrata sp. The presence of at least four distinct anuran taxa makes In Becetènthe most diverse anuran site in Mesozoic Africa. It is also the first site in the Mesozoic where four pipi-morph taxa are identified. The dominance of pipimorphs in the anuran diversity of the site suggests thatIn Becetèn was likely more lacustrine than previously thought.

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