The extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million age ago may have had a startling effect on the population of frogs . Namely , it let them to explode , with three young derivation appearing .
A field describe these determination is write this week in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The enquiry was contribute by Sun Yat - Sen University in China , and supported by a number of US universities .
Using fogy record , they tack together genetic differences in frog stemma , and observed how they diverged from each other . They found that the three major lineages of modern frogs rise almost at the same time at the moment the dinosaurs were pass over out , able to make newfangled recess for themselves on the less populated Earth .
" We reckon there were monolithic alterations of ecosystem at that time , include widespread destruction of forests , " read study co - author David Blackburn from the University of Florida in astatement . " But frogs are pretty effective at eking out a living in microhabitats , and as forests and tropic ecosystems rebounded , they quickly took advantage of those new ecologic opportunities . "
While frog actually date back about 200 million years , it seems the end of the Cretaceous Period and the start of the Paleogene allowed frogs to massively diversify . Key moments in the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree of life of other animals , including birds ormammals , show a standardised divergence as a result of climatic or geologic events .
Frogs were able to become one of the most diverse groups of vertebrate in the process , with more than 6,700 mintage known of today . While the dinosaurs and other creature conk after Chicxulub , this research shows just how intrepid salientian are .
It also helps answer the dilemma that many frog species around the world closely resemble each other , from Central Africa to Ecuador . They may have last deal a common ancestor 120 million yr ago , before theChicxulub impactthat wiped out 75 percent of plant and animate being life on Earth .
The global distribution of frogs run short back to the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea . It ’s think that frogs then used a comparatively ice - gratis Antarctica to make the trek from South America to Australia .
It was n’t good newsworthiness for all batrachian 66 million years ago , though . Many frog blood , particularly in North America , were likely pass over out , meaning most frogs found in North America today arose after the age of the dinosaur .
" If you could travel back to the time ofT. rexin North America , there would be batrachian , but the chorus you would hear at nighttime would have been nothing like you ’d hear today , ” said Blackburn . “ They ’re not even the same families . "
