''Anomaloglossus'' is a genus of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s in the family

Aromobatidae The Aromobatidae are a family of frogs native to Central and South America. They are sometimes referred to as cryptic forest frogs or cryptic poison frogs. They are the sister taxon of the Dendrobatidae, the poison dart frogs, but are not as to ...

. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...

in northern South America. It used to be placed in the family Dendrobatidae (together with other genera in the current Aromobatidae), and is still placed in that family by some sources. The name of the genus, from the Greek ''anomalos'' (=irregular, unusual) and ''glossa'' (=tongue), refers to the unusual tongue bearing the median lingual process, the only unambiguous phenotypic

synapomorphy In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to hav ...

of this genus. Anomaloglossus parkerae female

Description

''Anomaloglossus'' are characterized by cryptic dorsal coloration (brown or gray). Dorsal skin is posteriorly granular. The toes are webbed, ranging from basal to extensive. The fingers have weakly expanded discs. Many species show large intraspecific morphological variability and lack of morphological characters that would allow easy species identification. The

tadpoles A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in ...

can be either exotrophic or endotrophic.

Species

The following 30 species are recognised in the genus ''Anomaloglossus'':

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2613882 Aromobatidae Amphibian genera Amphibians of South America Taxa named by Janalee P. Caldwell Taxa named by Darrel Frost Taxa named by Taran Grant Taxa named by Philippe J.R. Kok Taxa named by D. Bruce Means Taxa named by Walter E. Schargel