The Minatogawa man site in southern Okinawajima Island has yielded abundant terrestrial vertebrate fossils, including human remains, from the latest Pleistocene. These fossils represent important evidence for clarifying the taxonomic composition and distribution of the island’s terrestrial fauna during that period. However, their taxonomic identifications have long remained at a preliminary stage. In recent years, detailed reassessments of the Ryukyu wild boar, turtles, and snakes have provided new insights into species composition and extinction timing, but fossil anurans from the site have not been subjected to sufficient comparative study. In this study, we examined 140 fossil anuran ilia and reassessed their taxonomic attribution through comparisons with extant species inhabiting Okinawajima Island and adjacent regions, in order to reconstruct the anuran fauna of the time. The results show that, based on osteological features such as the dorsal crest, dorsal protuberance, and ventral acetabular expansion, the fossils are attributable to one of five extant native species: Babina holsti, Odorrana narina, Rana ulma, Fejervarya kawamurai, or Zhangixalus viridis. Furthermore, when integrated with recent records of fossil anurans from Minatogawa and neighboring localities, the results indicate that at least eight of the ten extant native species were present in southern Okinawajima Island during the Late Pleistocene. The occurrence of F. kawamurai supports the hypothesis that this species reached Okinawajima Island through natural overseas dispersal during the Pleistocene, while records of B. holsti, O. narina, and other species suggest, as previously noted, that the Minatogawa area in the latest Pleistocene was covered by dense, humid forests with diverse lotic habitats.
