Myobatrachidae
Myobatrachidae is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size. There are species less than 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) long. This family also has the second-largest frog in Australia, the Giant Barred Frog at 12 centimetres (4.7 in) in length. The entire family either live in land or water. None of them live in trees.
| Myobatrachidae Temporal range: Late Oligocene – Recent | |
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| The Common Eastern Froglet (Crinia signifera) | |
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| Family: | Myobatrachidae Schlegel, 1850 |
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| Distribution of Myobatrachidae (in black) | |
These frogs do not have the adhesive toe disc cups found in the tree frogs. The family is broken up into three sub-families: Limnodynastinae, Myobatrachinae and Rheobatrachinae. This separation is based mainly on their egg-laying habits. Those of the sub-family Limnodynastinae lay foam nests. The female makes foam with a chemical on her skin. The foam may float on top of water, or be on land. The sub-family Rheobatrachinae has the two species of gastric-brooding frog, and the rest are in the sub-family Myobatrachinae.
Taxonomy
| Subfamilia | Species | Common name | Binomial name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Limnodynastinae[1] | 1 | Tusked Frog | Adelotus Ogilby, 1907 |
| 6 | Giant Burrowing Frogs | Heleioporus Gray, 1841 | |
| 4 | Cannibal Frogs | Lechriodus Boulenger, 1882 | |
| 11 | Australian Swamp Frogs | Limnodynastes Fitzinger, 1843 | |
| 10 | Stubby Frogs | Neobatrachus Peters, 1863 | |
| 4 | Australian Spadefoot Toads | Notaden Günther, 1873 | |
| 2 | Burrowing Frogs | Opisthodon Steindachner, 1867 | |
| 6 | Baw Baw Frogs | Philoria Spencer, 1901 | |
| Myobatrachinae[2] | 1 | Australian Dumpy Frogs | Arenophryne Tyler, 1976 |
| 1 | Pouched Frogs | Assa Tyler, 1972 | |
| 15 | Australian Froglets | Crinia Tschudi, 1838 | |
| 7 | Ground Froglets | Geocrinia Blake, 1973 | |
| 1 | Nicholls' Toadlets | Metacrinia Parker, 1940 | |
| 8 | Barred Frogs | Mixophyes Günther, 1864 | |
| 1 | Turtle Frogs | Myobatrachus Schlegel In Gray, 1850 | |
| 1 | Haswell's Frogs | Paracrinia Heyer & Liem, 1976 | |
| 13 | Crowned Toadlet | Pseudophryne Fitzinger, 1843 | |
| 1 | Sunset Frog | Spicospina Roberts et al., 1997 | |
| 6 | Australian Torrent Frogs | Taudactylus Straughan & Lee, 1966 | |
| 25 | Australian Toadlets | Uperoleia Gray, 1841 | |
| Rheobatrachinae[3] | 2 | Gastric Brooding Frogs | Rheobatrachus Liem, 1973 |
References
- Considered a family - Limnodynastidae by some authors.
- Considered a family - Myobatrachidae by some authors.
- Combined with the Myobatrachidae by some authors.
- Cogger, H.G.; R.G. Zweifel and D. Kirschner (2004). Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians Second Edition. Fog City Press. ISBN 1-877019-69-0.
