Avitabatrachus uliana is the single species in the extinct genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Avitabatrachus, a genus of prehistoric frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

s that lived in the Middle Cretaceous. Fossils of A. uliana were found in north-west Patagonia

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

 in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It was properly described in 2000 and was then concluded to be most closely related to Pipidae

Pipidae

The Pipidae are a family of primitive, tongueless frogs. The thirty species in the family Pipidae are found in tropical South America and sub-Saharan Africa ....

 frogs and hence was included in Pipimorpha

Pipimorpha

Pipimorpha is an unranked biological classification containing extinct Pipids who are more closely related to living Pipidae species than to living Rhinophrynus species....

.

Etymology

The genus name, Avitabatrachus, is derived from the Greek avita meaning "ancient" and batrachos meaning "frog". It is called so because it is the oldest record of pipids in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The species name, uliana, is named in honour of Miguel Uliana.