Phrynobatrachus

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Phrynobatrachus
Phrynobatrachus parvulus

Phrynobatrachus parvulus

Systematics
Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Order : Frog (anura)
Subordination : Neobatrachia
Family : Phrynobatrachidae
Genre : Phrynobatrachus
Scientific name of the  family
Phrynobatrachidae
Laurent , 1941
Scientific name of the  genus
Phrynobatrachus
Günther , 1862

Phrynobatrachus is a genus of frogs . It is the only genus within the Phrynobatrachidae family. The distribution area of ​​this frog family is in Africa south of the Sahara .

features

The species of the genus Phrynobatrachus usually measure less than three centimeters head-trunk length . Only a few species grow to be more than two inches long. They are very agile and show a wide variety of green and brown colors and patterns, which often makes a morphological differentiation difficult. Herpetologists refer to this as often by the "little brown frogs" (Little Brown Frogs) .

distribution and habitat

This genus of frog occurs in almost all countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of southwestern South Africa . Some species are endemic to small areas , others have a very large range. This has led to the hypothesis that some of these widespread species are in fact species complexes of different species that are similar to one another.

The species use a number of different habitats , ranging from savannah to grassland to primary forest .

Way of life

The frogs of the Phrynobatrachidae family produce clutches of very small eggs and lay them on the surface of puddles and temporary bodies of water that form in the rainy season. In some species, for example Phrynobatrachus bibita , the spawn can also be attached to the leaves of plants from which the tadpoles fall into the water from a low height. In some species, such as Phrynobatrachus sandersoni , the females guard the clutch until the larvae hatch. The tadpoles have an exotrophic diet, which means that they are dependent on external food intake and cannot supply themselves from the egg's yolk supply alone until metamorphosis.

Systematics and taxonomy

While in 2005 the Phrynobatrachidae were still regarded as the subfamily Phrynobatrachinae of the family real frogs (Ranidae), in 2006, in an extensive study by Darrel Frost and others, almost all subfamilies of the Ranidae were raised to families of their own. The sister group of the Phrynobatrachidae consists of the families of the Petropedetidae and the African bullfrogs (Pyxicephalidae), which were also earlier counted as subfamilies to the real frogs.

species

The numerous species of the genus Phrynobatrachus are common across Africa. The genus includes 95 species in several molecular-genetic distinguishable clades :

As of June 23, 2020

The taxonomic positions of Phrynobatrachus accraensis and Phrynobatrachus vogti are controversial and are often synonymous with Phrynobatrachus latifrons .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Darrel R. Frost: Phrynobatrachus Günther, 1862 . Amphibian Species of the World: An Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York 1998-2020, accessed March 16, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b B. M. Zimkus, S. Schick: Light at the end of the tunnel: insights into the molecular systematics of East African puddle frogs (Anura: Phrynobatrachidae). Systematics and Biodiversity, 8, 2010, pp. 39-47. doi : 10.1080 / 14772000903543004
  3. ↑ a b Sandra Goutte, Jacobo Reyes-Velasco, Stephane Boissinot: A new species of puddle frog from an unexplored mountain in southwestern Ethiopia (Anura, Phrynobatrachidae, Phrynobatrachus). ZooKeys, 824, 2019, pp. 53-70. doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.824.31570
  4. ↑ Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell: Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles. Publisher: Elsevier Ltd, Oxford, ISBN 978-0123869197 .
  5. ↑ Ronald Altig & Gail F. Johnston (1989): Guilds of Anuran Larvae: Relationships among Developmental Modes, Morphologies, and Habitats. Herpetological Monographs 3: 81-109. JSTOR 1466987
  6. ^ A. Dubois: Amphibia Mundi. 1.1. An ergotaxonomy of recent amphibians. Alytes, 23, pp. 1-24, 2005
  7. ↑ 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
  8. ↑ Phrynobatrachidae . Amphibiaweb, list of species of the Phrynobatrachidae family, accessed March 16, 2020.
  9. ↑ C. Ofori-Boateng, AD Leaché, B. Obeng-Kankam, NG Kouamé, A. Hillers & Mark-Oliver Rödel: A new species of puddle frog, genus Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from Ghana. Zootaxa 4374, 2018, pp. 565-578.
  10. ↑ Laura Greenwood, Simon P. Loader, Lucinda Lawson, Eli Greenbaum & Breda M. Zimkus: A new species of Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from the Northern Mountains of Tanzania. Amphibian taxonomy: Early 21st century case studies, published online, June 4, 2020 {{DOI: 10.1080 / 00222933.2020.1757171}}
  11. ↑ a b V. Gvoždík, T. Nečas, M. Dolinay, BM Zimkus, A. Schmitz & EB Fokam: Evolutionary history of the Cameroon radiation of puddle frogs (Phrynobatrachidae: Phrynobatrachus), with descriptions of two critically endangered new species from the northern Cameroon Volcanic Line. PeerJ 8 (e8393), pp. 1–52, 2020, doi : 10.7717 / peerj.8393 .
  12. ↑ Martin Pickersgill, Breda M. Zimkus, Lynn RG Raw: A new species of Phrynobatrachus (Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. Zootaxa 4350, 1, 2017, pp. 151-163.

literature

  • Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell: Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles. Publisher: Elsevier Ltd, Oxford, ISBN 978-0123869197 .

Web links

Commons : Phrynobatrachus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Darrel R. Frost: Phrynobatrachus Günther, 1862 . Amphibian Species of the World: An Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York 1998-2020, accessed March 16, 2020.
  • Phrynobatrachidae . Amphibiaweb, list of species of the Phrynobatrachidae family, accessed March 16, 2020.