Mesobatrachia
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Mesobatrachia (
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''μέσος'' (mésos, "middle") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) is a
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 ...
group of relatively primitive frogs. At the end of 2016, it contained 3 superfamilies ( Pelobatoidea, Pelodytoidea and
Pipoidea Pipoidea are a clade of frogs that have variously been defined as a suborder (original definition), superfamily, or an unranked node-based taxon. There is no single, authoritative higher-level classification of frogs, and Vitt and Caldwell (201 ...
), 6 families, 16 genera, and 244 species. Recognized as a group in 1993, the name is contrasted with the primitive
Archaeobatrachia Archaeobatrachia (New Latin ''archaeo-'' ("old") + ''batrachia'' ("frog")) is a suborder of the order Frog, Anura containing various primitive frogs and toads. As the name suggests, these are the most primitive frogs. Many of the species (28 in t ...
and the more diverse and advanced
Neobatrachia The Neobatrachia (New Latin ''neo-'' ("new") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) are a suborder of the Anura, the order of frogs and toads. This suborder is the most advanced and apomorphic of the three anuran suborders alive today, hence its name, wh ...
. The Mesobatrachia comprise five
fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...
families, including the spadefoot toads of Europe, North America, and East Asia, the parsley frogs, and the Mexican burrowing toad, as well as one obligatorily aquatic family, the Pipidae of Africa and South America. Later studies recognised that the group was paraphyletic with respect to
Neobatrachia The Neobatrachia (New Latin ''neo-'' ("new") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) are a suborder of the Anura, the order of frogs and toads. This suborder is the most advanced and apomorphic of the three anuran suborders alive today, hence its name, wh ...
. The families currently accepted in the Mesobatrachia suborder are: *
Megophryidae Megophryidae, commonly known as goose frogs, is a large family of frogs native to the warm southeast of Asia, from the Himalayan foothills eastwards, south to Indonesia and the Greater Sunda Islands in Maritime Southeast Asia, and extending to th ...
*
Pelobatidae The European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus ''Pelobates'', containing six species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa, and western Asia. Description The Europe ...
*
Pelodytidae Pelodytidae, also known as the parsley frogs, or rarely, mud divers, is a family of frogs. It contains a single extant genus, '' Pelodytes'', and two genera only known from fossils. The extant species are found in southwestern Europe and the Cauc ...
*
Pipidae The Pipidae are a family of primitive, tongueless frogs. The 41 species in the family Pipidae are found in tropical South America (genus ''Pipa'') and sub-Saharan Africa (the three other genera). Description Pipid frogs are highly aquatic and ...
*
Rhinophrynidae The Rhinophrynidae are a family of frogs containing one extant genus, the monotypic ''Rhinophrynus'', and a number of fossil genera. The family is sometimes known as the Mexican burrowing toads or simply burrowing toads. ''Rhinophrynus'' occurs ...
* Scaphiopodidae


References

* * . Amphibian suborders {{Mesobatrachia-stub