The brown frogs (Rana temporaria-group) are a monophyletic group in the family Ranidae, which have a scarce fossil record in Europe that begins only in the Late Pliocene. A new fossil from the Dietrichsberg locality (Germany, Thuringia) extends their stratigraphic range back to the Early Miocene, and suggests that their origin lies outside the Western Palaearctic, most probably in Asia, with subsequent immigration in the Burdigalian.

Madelaine Bohme [m.boehme@lrz.uni-muenchen.de], Universitatsinstitut für Palaontologie und Historische Geologie München, Richard- Wagner-Strasse 10,D-80333 München, Germany.