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The Brachycephalidae () are a
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
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 confined to eastern and southern
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and northern
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. The family is composed of two externally quite different
genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
: the tiny, often (but not always) colourful and plump
saddleback toad The saddleback toads (''Brachycephalus'') are a genus of tiny toads and frogs in the family (biology), family Brachycephalidae in the order (biology), order Frog, Anura, ranging from south Bahia to Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina in southe ...
s ('' Brachycephalus'') from Brazil, and the larger, slimmer and more drab genus ''
Ischnocnema ''Ischnocnema'' is a genus of frogs from eastern Brazil and north-eastern Argentina. They comprise the former ''Eleutherodactylus'' from this region, but they are closer to '' Brachycephalus'' than the "true" ''Eleutherodactylus''. Consequently, ...
'' from both Brazil and Argentina. The family is mainly defined by molecular characteristics, and are linked by few anatomical features. It was erected from two genera of the previously large family
Eleutherodactylidae The Eleutherodactylidae are a family of direct-developing frogs native to northern South America, the Caribbean, and southernmost North America. They are sometimes known under the common name rain frogs. Formerly the subfamily Eleutherodactylina ...
, which is now split into four families. The Brachycephalidae all have
direct development Marine larval ecology is the study of the factors influencing dispersing larvae, which many marine invertebrates and fishes have. Marine animals with a larva typically release many larvae into the water column, where the larvae develop before metam ...
and hatch like miniature adults rather than as
tadpole 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 i ...
s like most frogs. The members of the genus ''Brachycephalus'' are all very diminutive animals, with many species under in snout–to–
vent Vent or vents may refer to: Science and technology Biology *Vent, the cloaca region of an animal *Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase Geology *Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water ...
length.


References

Amphibians of South America Amphibian families Taxa named by Albert Günther {{Brachycephaloidea-stub