''Crinia'' 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 ...

, native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and part of the family

Myobatrachidae Myobatrachidae, commonly known as Australian ground frogs or Australian water frogs, is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than long, to the second-largest frog in ...

. It consists of small frogs, which are distributed throughout most of Australia, excluding the central arid regions. Many of the species within this genus are non-distinguishable through physical characteristics, and can only be distinguished by their calls. They have unwebbed toes and fingers, most of the species in these genus are polymorphic - meaning that several variations of colour and skin patterning exist in a single population and all species lay their eggs in small clumps in water. The generic name ''Crinia'' likely derives from the Greek verb κρῑνω (krīnō) "to separate" as a reference to the frog's unwebbed digits, meaning "separated (toes)". Although

Johann Jakob von Tschudi Johann Jakob von Tschudi (25 July 1818 – 8 October 1889) was a Switzerland, Swiss Natural history, naturalist, explorer and diplomat. Biography Tschudi was born in Glarus to Johann Jakob Tschudi, a merchant, and Anna Maria Zwicky. He studied ...

did not provide an etymology in 1838, he cited the frog's "free toes" (without webbing) as an important distinctive feature (most frogs have webbed feet). During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s a lot of taxonomic work was done on this genus, frogs that were originally thought to be

common eastern froglet The common eastern froglet (''Crinia signifera'') is a very common, Australian ground-dwelling frog, of the family Myobatrachidae. Distribution The common eastern froglet ranges from southeastern Australia, from Adelaide to Melbourne, up the ea ...

s (''Crinia signifera'') were described as other species of ''Crinia'' by

mating call A mating call is the auditory signal used by animals to attract mates. It can occur in males or females, but literature is abundantly favored toward researching mating calls in females. In addition, mating calls are often the subject of mate choic ...

analysis and hybridization experiments. Two species originally described as ''Crinia'' were then placed in their own genus, ''

Assa Assa may refer to: Places * Assa (Chalcidice), a town of Chalcidice in ancient Macedonia, Greece * Assa, Morocco, a town in Southern Morocco in the Jbel Ouarkziz * Asa River (Kazakhstan), river in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan * Assa (river), river ...

'' and '' Paracrinia''. One species of both ''

Geocrinia ''Geocrinia'' is a genus of frogs in the family Myobatrachidae. These frogs are endemic to Australia. Two species are known from southeastern Australia (Victoria and Tasmania), while one is known from southeastern Western Australia. All the spe ...

'' and ''

Taudactylus ''Taudactylus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Myobatrachidae. These frogs are endemic to rainforest areas of coastal eastern Australia, most of this genus inhabit fast flowing streams in highland area. Most members of this genus have suffered ...

'' were split from ''Crinia'' and the genus ''Bryobatrachus'' was also described only to be recently placed back into ''Crinia''. The

moss froglet The moss froglet (''Crinia nimbus''), or moss frog, is a species of frog in the family Myobatrachidae. It is endemic to Tasmania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, temperate shrubland, and swamp A swamp i ...

, (''Crinia nimbus'') is very different physically and in its tadpole development. Due to the obvious differences with other species in ''Crinia'' this species is likely to be placed again into a separate genus.

Species

The genus ''Crinia'' contains 17 species:

References

Amphibian Species of the World - Crinia Tschudi, 1838Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage
* *Tschudi, Johann J. von (1838). Classification der Batrachier, mit Berücksichtigung der fossilen Tiere dieser Abteilung der Reptilien. Neuchâtel : Erück Petitpierre pp. 102. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2600380 Myobatrachidae Amphibians of Australia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi