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

microhylid The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family of frogs. The 683 species are in 57 genera and 11 subfamilies. Evolution A molecular phylogenetic study by van der Meijden, et al. (2007) has estima ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

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 frogs (common name: sheep frogs) found in the Americas between Costa Rica and the southern United States. They can bury themselves under the ground or moss. Its name means ‘somewhat thick’, referring ...

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

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

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

Theodosius Dobzhansky Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (; ; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a Russian-born American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern ...

decades earlier.

Species

The currently recognized species are: * ''

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

'' (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'' (Hallowell, 1856) - Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad

References

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