The Ceratophryidae, also known as common horned frogs, are a family 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 found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. It is a relatively small family with three

extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...

genera and 12 species. Despite the common name, not all species in the family have the horn-like projections at the eyes. They have a relatively large head with big mouth, and they are ambush predators able to consume large prey, including lizards, other frogs, and small mammals. They inhabit arid areas and are seasonal breeders, depositing many small eggs in aquatic habitats.

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 ...

s are free-living and carnivorous (''

Ceratophrys ''Ceratophrys'' is a genus of frogs in the family Ceratophryidae. They are also known as South American horned frogs as well as Pacman frogs due to their characteristic round shape and large mouth, reminiscent of the video game character Pac-Man ...

'' and '' Lepidobatrachus'') or grazers ('' Chacophrys''). Some species (especially from the genera ''Ceratophrys'' and ''Lepidobatrachus'') are popular in

herpetoculture Herpetoculture is the keeping of live reptiles and amphibians in captivity, whether as a hobby or as a commercial breeding operation. "Herps" is an informal term for both reptiles and amphibians, shortened from the scientific umbrella term “herpt ...

. The oldest fossils of the family are known from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

epoch. The fossil giant frog ''

Beelzebufo ''Beelzebufo ampinga'' ( or ) was a particularly large species of prehistoric frog described in 2008. Common names assigned by the popular media include devil frog, devil toad, and the frog from hell. Fossils of ''Beelzebufo'' have been recover ...

'' from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

was formerly considered to belong to this family, but is now excluded, but is possibly closely related, alongside '' Baurubatrachus'' from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. '' Wawelia'' from the Miocene of Argentina is no longer considered closely related.

Taxonomy

Placement of this clade has varied considerably over time, having been a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

within the

Leptodactylidae The southern frogs form the Leptodactylidae, a name that comes from Greek meaning a bird or other animal having slender toes. They are a diverse family of frogs that most likely diverged from other hyloids during the Cretaceous. The family has u ...

for a long while. Later on, it has been raised to family level, either broadly defined, including the Telmatobiidae and Batrachylidae (as subfamilies Telmatobiinae and Batrachylinae, respectively), or as now is commonly accepted, as a smaller family with three genera.

Genera

The

genera are: * ''

'' Wied-Neuwied, 1824 (8 species) * '' Chacophrys'' Reig & Limeses, 1963 (

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

: '' Chacophrys pierottii'' (Vellard, 1948)) * '' Lepidobatrachus'' Budgett, 1899 (3 species) In addition, a number of fossil taxa have been considered to be closely related, including: * †''

'' Evans, Jones, & Krause, 2008 * †'' Baurubatrachus'' Báez and Perí, 1990

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q55461 Amphibian families Turonian first appearances Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi Extant Turonian first appearances