Southern frogs

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The division of living beings into systematics is a continuous subject of research. Different systematic classifications exist side by side and one after the other. The taxon treated here has become obsolete due to new research or is not part of the group systematics presented in the German-language Wikipedia.

Leptodactylus podicipinus (now: Family Leptodactylidae i. E. S. )

The southern frogs (Leptodactylidae in the broader sense, Werner , 1896), also known as whistling frogs , were put together as a very species-rich taxon of the frog auger (Anura). Later it turned out that this collective taxon was paraphyletic from a phylogenetic point of view . The former subfamilies of this huge family of frogs were spread over the entire southern part of the New World . Their distribution area reached from South and Central America to the islands of the Caribbean and in foothills to Mexico and the southern United States . The systematics of the southern frogs presented here in five subfamilies and over 1000 species is now considered to be out of date, but is of significance for research history. After several revisions, the genera and species were divided into various, partly new families, from 2006 onwards (cf. Calyptocephalellidae , Ceratophryidae , Cycloramphidae , Eleutherodactylidae , Leptodactylidae , Telmatobiidae and Craugastoridae ).

The common name southern frogs comes from the fact that the distribution areas of these frogs, which in addition to the American representatives also included frog taxa such as the South African ghost frogs (Heleophrynidae) and the Australian southern frogs (Myobatrachidae), are predominantly in the southern hemisphere .

Features, way of life

As an anatomical correspondence, the southern frogs have procoel-shaped (front hollowed out) vertebrae and a movable shoulder girdle. Externally, on the other hand, there is an enormous variety of shapes: While, for example, many of the around 700 species of the Antilles whistling frogs ( Eleutherodactylus ) remain very small with little more than three to four centimeters (sometimes significantly less; see Monte Iberia frogs ) and species of the genus Crossodactylodes only reach 12 millimeters in height, the South American bullfrog ( Leptodactylus pentadactylus ) can grow to a considerable 18 centimeters. Some species of horned frogs ( Ceratophrys ) also look very massive with their huge heads and can easily devour mice. The toad- like Chilean helmet head ( Caudiverbera caudiverbera ) from the subfamily of the Andean whistling frogs is also one of the giants among the southern frogs.

The pupils can be positioned horizontally or vertically; Webbed feet may be present or absent. Some species have sticky disks on their fingers, similar to tree frogs , and climb in vegetation; others only colonize habitats on the forest floor and are good jumpers, live burrowing or exclusively aquatic (for example the marbled Andean whistling frog , Telmatobius marmoratus , in Lake Titicaca ). The tiny Crossodactylodes species spend their entire life cycle in the leaf funnels of pineapple plants .

Reproduction

The representatives of the subfamily Leptodactylinae have loud, whistling calls. During reproduction it is noticeable that many southern frogs do not lay their eggs in water, but in depressions in the ground and between fallen leaves or - like the real whistling frogs ( Leptodactylus ) - in a foam nest they have made themselves. Some pursue brood care by guarding and moistening the clutch as well as showing impressive behavior (inflating, opening their mouths, pushing movements, screams) towards potential predators. The species-rich Antilles whistling frogs ( Eleutherodactylus ) lay their few, relatively large eggs on land without a foam mass, where the seedlings transform into a frog via a tadpole-like intermediate stage with a large tail or even go through the entire larval phase in the egg shell without one Needing waters.

Others

  • Some species, especially the horned frogs , behave extremely aggressively and defend themselves against equally large and even much larger attackers (including humans!), Which is very unusual behavior for frogs.
  • Large species such as the South American bullfrog or some Andean whistling frogs are part of the food spectrum of the local population.
  • In 2008 a very large, extinct southern frog from the Upper Cretaceous of Madagascar was described. Beelzebufo was closely related to the horn frogs ( Ceratophrys ). Its discovery is an indication of a land connection between South America via Antarctica to Madagascar in the Cretaceous Period .

Previous systematic subdivision

The systematics of the southern frogs presented here with their division into subfamilies, genera and species is now out of date. The five subfamilies were raised to families in 2006, the genera partially redistributed according to phylogenetic aspects, many genera were newly described (see now: Calyptocephalellidae , Ceratophryidae , Cycloramphidae , Eleutherodactylidae , Leptodactylidae , Telmatobiidae , Craugastoridae ).

Individual evidence

  1. a b Darrel R. Frost, Taran Grant, Julián Faivovich, Raoul H. Bain, Alexander Haas, Celio FB Haddad, Rafael O. de Sá, A. Channing, Mark Wilkinson, Stephen C. Donnellan, Christopher J. Raxworthy, Jonathan A. Campbell, Boris L. Blotto, Paul E. Moler, Robert C. Drewes, Ronald A. Nussbaum, John D. Lynch, David M. Green, and Ward C. Wheeler: The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297, pp. 1-370, 2006 full text
  2. ^ Susan E. Evans, Marc EH Jones, David W. Krause: A giant frog with South American affinities from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073 / pnas.0707599105 Abstract

Web links

Commons : Southern Frogs (Leptodactylidae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files