Anuran Families (Overlap Lecture and Lab)

Family: Ascaphidae

• 1 genus, 2 sp
• Has a true intermittent organ, and is one of the few frogs with internal fertilization
• Disjunct dist. in Pacific NW, where they inhabit cold rapid streams
• A few large eggs laid under rocks in streams
• Tadpoles have well-developed oral suction disks, and development can take years
• Adults are aquatic and lack calls and external ears

Family Leiopelmatidae

• 1 genus, 4 sp
• Resemble Ascaphids
• Terrestrial or streamside
• Small clutches of large eggs laid on land, with direct development to near-metomorphic larvae
• Some M attend eggs and carry larvae on back
• Threatened by habitat loss and disease

Family Bombinatoridae

• 2 genera, 10 sp
• Defined by technical skeletal characters
• Have warning coloration on belly and exhibit the unken response
• Most likely lay few large eggs

Family Alytidae

• 3 genera, 11 sp
• Small to medium terrestrial frogs with aquatic tadpoles
• Most probably have unpalatable skin secretions
• Significant genera: Alytes (midwife toad)

Family Rhinophrynidae

• Monotypic
• Explosive breeders after heavy rains
• Loud call
• Larvae develop in temporary ponds
• Fossorial exomorph
• Mouth, pharynx, esophagus, and hyoid modified for eating ants and termites underground
• Tongue protrudes straight from a groove
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Family Pipidae

• 4 genera, 41 sp
• Flattened, lack tongues and eyelids
• Highly aquatic with lateral lines, long fingers, and webbed feet
• Call underwater, have modified ear and vocal apparatus
• Genetic evolution involves polyploidy
• Significant genus: Xenopus
• Significant species: Pipa pipa (nightmare frog)
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Family Megophryidae

• 6 genera, 240+ sp
• Streamsides or rainforest floow
• Disruptive shape camouflage
• Lavae aquatic but otherwise vary greatly
• Skin highly glandular
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Family Pelodytidae

• 1 genus, 5 sp
• Squat, warty, dessication tolerant
• Usually nocturnal but become diurnal to breed
• Explosive breeders in temporary ponds
• Hard tubercle spade on outside rear foot
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Family Scaphiopodidae

• 2 genera, 7 sp
• Squat, warty, dessication tolerant
• Hard tubercle spade on outside rear foot
• Explosive breeders in temporary ponds
• Chemical indicators of past failed transformations accelerate larval development
• Dual tadpole genotypes produce different larval phenotypes in different environmental conditions (example: cannibal morph)
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Family Heleophrynidae

• 2 genera, 6 sp
• Strongly webbed feet and prominent toe-disks
• Larvae inhabit swift streams, stick to rocks with oral disk and eat algae
• Eggs in puddles or damp ground, but tadpoles develop in streams (washed in)
• Vertical pupils in bright light
• "Squared off" toepads
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Family Bufonidae

• 52 genera, 630+ sp
• Anaxyrus is the new name for NA Bufonids
• Cosmopolitan distribution except Aus/NG, deserts, and Madagascar
• Most terrestrial, teeth absent
• Diverse repro modes, most put strings of many small eggs in temp water
• Males have Bidders Organ
• Cutaneous glands
• Many have toxic secretions, some aposematic
• Toad morphotype: squat, warty, big head
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Family Eleutherodactylidae

• 4 genera, 225+ sp
• Assemblage of 4 genera in W Indies, NA, SA
• Characterized by direct development
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Family Sooglossidae

• 2 genera, 4 sp
• Endemic to granitic Seychelles Islands in Indian Ocean
• Most closely related to Indian Nasikabatrachidae
• Small, terrestrial
• Have larval/tadpole and direct development
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Family Nasikabatrachidae

• 1 genus, 2 sp. Recently described
• W Ghats in S India
• Large (bloated) body, small eyes, no tympanum
• Snout with distinct white protrusion
• Sister to Sooglossidae
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Family Hylidae

• 53+ genera, 1k+ sp
• Claw shaped phlanges, usually end in toe disks
• Most species are arboreal climbers with arboreal ecomorphs
• Diverse reproductive modes
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Family Rhacophoridae

• 20 genera, 425+ sp
• Mostly arboreal with toe disks and adherant toe pads
• Many are foam nesters, but repro is varied
• In many tropical areas, occupy the treefrog niche
• Significant species: Cristalus effingeri breeds in broken bamboo
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Family Rhinodermatidae

• 2 genera, 3 sp
• Small, with fleshy rostral appendage at the end of the snout
• Eggs laid on land and attended by M
• M carried tadpoles to water in mouth or broods them in vocal sacs
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Family Dendrobatidae

• 20 genera, 323+ sp
• Large terrestrial eggs guarded by parent
• Newly hatched tadpoles are carried on the back of guarding parent to water
• Most have poisonous skin secretions
• Advertised by bright colors
• Some only breed in bromeliads and FM nourish larvae with trophic eggs
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Family Microhylidae

• 69 genera, 678+ sp
• Almost all ecomorphs
• Enormous morphological, reproductive, and ecological diversity
• In parts of SE Asia, may occupy niches frequently held by other families
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Family Ranidae

• 26 genera, 413+ sp
• "Catch all" family with no defining synpomorphies
• Non-monophyletic
• The genus Rana with the most species is rather uniform, other genera are not
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