''Gastrophryne'', the narrowmouth toads (also American narrowmouth toads, North American narrow-mouthed toads), is a genus of microhylid

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 the Americas between Honduras and southern United States. Its name means ‘belly-toad’, referring to its large belly, from the Ancient Greek ' (, ‘belly, stomach’) and ' (, ‘toad’). ''Gastrophryne'' is closely related to ''

Hypopachus ''Hypopachus'' is a genus of microhylid 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 ...

''. Some species that were earlier placed in ''Gastrophryne'' were more closely related to ''Hypopachus'', rendering the genus

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

. This has been rectified by moving some species ('' Gastrophryne usta'' and '' Gastrophryne pictiventris'') to ''Hypopachus''. ''Gastrophryne'' frogs were the first species to be recognized to be experiencing speciation by reinforcement and lead to the coining of the term reinforcement by

W. Frank Blair William Franklin Blair (25 June 1912 – 1984) was a zoologist and president of the Ecological Society of America. Life Blair was born in Dayton, Texas. He was the eldest of five children of Percy Franklin and Mona Clyde (Patrick) Blair. In 1916, h ...

in 1955;Sætre, Glenn-Peter. (2012). Reinforcement. ''eLS''. a concept proposed by

Theodosius Dobzhansky Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (russian: Феодо́сий Григо́рьевич Добржа́нский; uk, Теодо́сій Григо́рович Добржа́нський; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a prominent ...

decades earlier.

Species

The currently recognized species are: * ''

Gastrophryne carolinensis ''Gastrophryne carolinensis'', the eastern narrow-mouthed toad, is a species of microhylid frog. It is a relatively small, toad-like amphibian found in damp, shady habitats. The species is highly fossorial, and feeds primarily on ants. These ...

'' (Holbrook, 1835) - eastern narrow-mouthed toad * '' Gastrophryne elegans'' (Boulenger, 1882) - elegant narrow-mouthed toad * '' Gastrophryne mazatlanensis'' (Taylor, 1943) - Mazatlan narrow-mouthed toad or Sinaloa narrow-mouthed toad * ''

Gastrophryne olivacea ''Gastrophryne olivacea'', the Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad or western narrow-mouthed toad, is a species of microhylid frog found throughout much of the south-central United States from Nebraska south through Texas, and into northern Mexico. ...

'' (Hallowell, 1856) - Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad Gastrophryne olivacea, Western Narrow-mouthed Toad, Tamaulipas

References

Microhylidae Amphibians of Central America Amphibians of North America Amphibian genera Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger {{Microhylidae-stub