''Arthroleptis'' is a genus of

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

s in the family

Arthroleptidae The Arthroleptidae are a family of frogs found in sub-Saharan Africa. This group includes African treefrogs in the genus ''Leptopelis'' along with the terrestrial breeding squeakers '' Arthroleptis'', and several genera restricted to the Guinea ...

found in tropical

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

. Their common names include screeching frogs, sometimes simply squeakers.

Description

These species are terrestrial breeding, with direct development (metamorphosis to froglets occurs within the egg). Many species in this genus are small, or very small, frogs with a minimum adult size of snout-vent length. The largest species (''

Arthroleptis nikeae ''Arthroleptis nikeae'', also known as Nike's squeaker, is a species of frogs in the family Arthroleptidae. It is endemic to the Mafwemiro Reserve in the Rubeho Mountains of Tanzania. It was named after conservationist Nike Doggart, who first fou ...

'' and '' Arthroleptis tanneri'') reach body lengths around . It was hypothesized that small species evolved from larger ones, but in fact the opposite seems to be case. ''Arthroleptis'' species are terrestrial leaf-litter frogs that feed on a range of terrestrial arthropods, such as ants and termites.

Species

Forty-seven to 49 species are known; this list follows the ''Amphibian Species of the World'':

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1865887 Arthroleptidae Amphibians of Sub-Saharan Africa Amphibian genera Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist)