Abstract

This work describes the first record of a fossil anuran from the Neogene of Chile, found in miocene outcrops of the Rio Pedregoso Member of the Cura-Mallin Formation, near the town of Lonquimay, Araucania Region. The material consists of a distal half of left humerus and the proximal half of a radioulnae preserved in natural articulation. These elements present several similarities with extant members of Rhinella, which allow to confer the specimen to this genus. These similarities are the greater development of the ulnar epicondyle with respect to the radial, which may also have a great development of the medial crest, and the presence of a lateral crest and a humeral head slightly laterally displaced from the shaft of the diaphysis. Rhinella is a well-represented genus in the current batrachofauna of South America, but with a poor fossil record. The finding represents the southernmost fossil record of Bufonidae in South America for the Miocene. This discovery increases the knowledge about the distribution of the members of Rhinella during this epoch.