Megophryidae, commonly known as goose frogs, is a large

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 native to the warm southeast of Asia, from the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

n foothills eastwards, south to Indonesia and the

Greater Sunda Islands The Greater Sunda Islands ( Indonesian and Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, are internationally recognised ...

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. Maritime Southeast Asia is sometimes also referred to as Island Southeast Asia, Insular Southeast Asia or Oceanic Sout ...

, and extending to the Philippines. Fossil remains are also known from North America. it encompasses 246 species of frogs divided between five genera. For lack of a better vernacular name, they are commonly called megophryids.

Morphology

The megophryids are notable for their

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

, especially those that live in

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, which often look like dead leaves. The camouflage is accurate to the point of some having skin folds that look like leaf veins, and at least one species, the

long-nosed horned frog The long-nosed horned frog (''Pelobatrachus nasutus''), also known as the Malayan horned frog or Malayan leaf frog is a species of frog restricted to the rainforest areas of southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia to Singapore, Sumatra, and Bor ...

(''Megophrys montana'') has sharp projections extending past the eye and nose, which disguise the frog shape. Megophryids range in size from in length. The adults' tongues are noticeably

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered w ...

-shaped. Their

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 can be found in a variety of waters, but especially

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from tha ...

s and

stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ...

s. The tadpoles are extremely diverse in form because of the variety of

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s they inhabit.

Genera

The following genera are recognised in the family Megophryidae; ''

Amphibian Species of the World ''Amphibian Species of the World 6.1: An Online Reference'' (ASW) is a herpetology database. It lists the names of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians, which scientists first described each species and what year, and the animal's known range. ...

'' and

AmphibiaWeb AmphibiaWeb is an American non-profit website that provides information about amphibians. It is run by a group of universities working with the California Academy of Sciences: San Francisco State University, the University of California at Berkel ...

differ on the number of species per genera, leading to the variability in numbers: * Subfamily Leptobrachiinae (pseudomoustache toads; 216 species) ** ''

Leptobrachella ''Leptobrachella'' is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. Members of Leptobrachella are found throughout Asia including on Borneo and the Natuna Islands. They are sometimes referred to as Borneo frogs, slender-armed frogs, or dwarf litte ...

'' Smith, 1925 (Borneo frogs; 85-93 species) ** '' Leptobrachium'' Tschudi, 1838 (eastern spadefoot toads; 38 species) **'' Leptolalax'' Dubois, 1980 (50 species) ** '' Oreolalax'' Myers and Leviton, 1962 (19 species) ** '' Scutiger'' Theobald, 1868 (cat-eyed toads; 24 species) *Subfamily Megophryinae (124 species) ** ''

Atympanophrys ''Atympanophrys'' is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. They range from central China south to northern Vietnam. They are commonly known as hidden-tympanum horned toads. Taxonomy They were synonymized with ''Xenophrys'' in 2006, but ...

Tian ''Tiān'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as '' Shàngdì'' (, "Lor ...

and Hu, 1983 (hidden-tympanum horned toads; 3-4 species) ** ''

Boulenophrys ''Boulenophrys'' is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. They occur in the China, Mainland Southeast Asia and Northeast India. It had been placed variously as a subgenus or synonymy of ''Megophrys ''Megophrys'' is a genus of frogs in ...

'' Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2016 (Chinese horned toads; 65 species) **''

Brachytarsophrys ''Brachytarsophrys'' is a genus of the family Megophryidae in the order Anura, and are found in southern China, Myanmar, northern Thailand and northern Vietnam. Common names include short-legged toad. Natural history of ''Brachytarsophrys'' is ...

'' Tian & Hu, 1983 (Karin Hills frogs; 8 species) **''

Megophrys ''Megophrys'' is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. They are endemic to Indonesia, where they are found on the islands of Java and Sumatra. They commonly have elongated upper "eyebrows" and are thus known as Indonesian horned toads. T ...

'' Kuhl and Van Hasselt, 1822 (Indonesian horned toads; 5-8 species) **'' Ophryophryne''

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, 1903 (narrow-mouth horned toads; 6 species) **''

Pelobatrachus ''Pelobatrachus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Megophryidae. It was formerly synonymized with ''Megophrys'' until 2021, when it was revived as a distinct genus. They inhabit Southeast Asia, namely the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo ...

'' Beddard, 1908 "1907" (clay horned toads; 7 species) **''

Xenophrys ''Xenophrys'' is a genus of amphibians in the family Megophryidae. They are found in southeastern Asia (including China and northeastern India) to Borneo. Their common name is strange-horned toads. Conservation Of the 36 ''Xenophrys'' species ...

'' Günther, 1864 (strange-horned toads; 28-31 species) **''

Incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'' *** "''Megophrys''" ''dringi'' Inger, Stuebing, and Tan, 1995 *** "''Megophrys''" ''feii'' Yang, Wang, and Wang, 2018

Evolution

The origin of this group of frogs was largely unknown, due to the lack of members of this family in the fossil record. While the family was originally considered to have originated in the early-mid

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

(100-126 mya) via fossils of related frog groups, a study in early 2017 revealed that this was likely an overestimation. Using DNA sequencing, the study indicated the group more likely originated much later during the Cretaceous period, around 77 mya. The study also indicated that there are likely many more new species in the family that are currently unknown to science. While the family is currently restricted to Asia, fossils indicate that it once had a much wider distribution extending to North America. The earliest known fossils of this family are from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

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in the

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References

* (2004): ''Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians'' (2nd ed.). Fog City Press. * (2003):

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&ndash
Megophryidae
Retrieved 2006-MAY-08.

Morphology

Genera

Evolution

References

Further reading