The Neobatrachia (

New Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

''neo-'' ("new") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) are a

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

of the Anura, the order 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 and

toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...

s. This suborder is the most advanced and

apomorph In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...

ic of the three anuran suborders alive today, hence its name, which literally means "new frogs" (from the hellenic words ''neo'', meaning "new" and ''batrachia'', meaning "frogs"). It is also by far the largest of the three; its more than 5,000 different

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

make up over 96% of all living anurans. The differentiation between

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 ...

Mesobatrachia The Mesobatrachia (Ancient Greek ''μέσος'' (mésos, "middle") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) is a paraphyletic group of relatively primitive frogs. At the end of 2016, it contained 3 superfamilies ( Pelobatoidea, Pelodytoidea and Pipoidea), 6 ...

, and Neobatrachia is based primarily on

anatomic Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

differences, especially the

skeletal A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

structure, as well as several visible characteristics and behaviors.

Systematics

Separating the Anura into the Archaeo-, Meso- and Neobatrachia is somewhat controversial; as more research is done and more knowledge is gained, it is becoming even less clear, because many characteristics used for this differentiation apply to more than one group. Neobatrachia are usually sorted into five superfamilies, but this division is also controversial, as some

families 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. Ideall ...

are placed into different superfamilies by different authors. In addition, several families have been revealed to be

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 ...

and consequently divided to make them correspond to

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s and thus be natural,

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

ary groups. This has approximately doubled the number of presently recognized neobatrachian families.

List of families

The clades and families currently accepted in the Neobatrachia are: * Superfamily

Heleophrynoidea Heleophrynidae is a family of frogs, commonly known as ghost frogs. They are thought to be the most basal group in the Neobatrachia. The family consists of two genera, '' Heleophryne'' and '' Hadromophryne'', with seven species. Ghost frogs liv ...

: ** Heleophrynidae – ghost frogs * Clade

Australobatrachia Australobatrachia ("southern frogs") is a clade of frogs in the suborder Neobatrachia. It comprises three families of frogs with a Gondwanan distribution, being known from Chile, Australia, and New Guinea. Together, they form the sister group ...

: **

Calyptocephalellidae The Calyptocephalellidae are a family of toads (although not true members of the Bufonidae) found in Chile containing two living genera, ''Calyptocephalella'' and '' Telmatobufo.'' The genus ''Calyptocephalella'' contains one living species, th ...

- Chilean toads ** Superfamily

Myobatrachoidea Myobatrachoidea is a superfamily of frogs. It contains two families, both of which are found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands. Some sources group these two families into a single family Myobatrachidae. Their closest relatives are ...

***

Limnodynastidae Limnodynastidae, commonly known as the Australian ground frogs, is a family of frogs found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands The Aru Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the M ...

– Australian ground frogs ***

Myobatrachidae Myobatrachidae, commonly known as Australian ground frogs or Australian water frogs, is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than long, to the second-largest frog in ...

– Australian froglets * Superfamily

Hyloidea Hyloidea is a superfamily of frogs.R.Alexander Pyron, John J.Wiens, 2011, ''A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians'' Hyloidea accounts for 54% ...

: ** Allophrynidae - Tukeit hill frogs ** Amphignathodontidae – marsupial frogs (sometimes in Hemiphractidae) ** Alsodidae **

Batrachylidae Batrachylidae is a family of frogs from southern South America (Argentina and Chile). Before being recognized as a family, Batrachylidae was included as a subfamily (Batrachylinae) in the family Ceratophryidae; this is the taxonomy still suggest ...

** Clade

Brachycephaloidea Brachycephaloidea (terrarana) is a monophyletic group of frogs that includes the families: Brachycephalidae, Craugastoridae, Eleutherodactylidae, Ceuthomantidae, and Strabomantidae. The superfamily contains 882 species that inhabit the New Wor ...

***

Brachycephalidae The Brachycephalidae () are a family of frogs confined to eastern and southern Brazil and northern Argentina. The family is composed of two externally quite different genera: the tiny, often (but not always) colourful and plump saddleback toads ...

– saddleback toads *** Ceuthomantidae – emerald-barred frogs ***

Craugastoridae Craugastoridae, commonly known as fleshbelly frogs, is a family of New World direct-developing frogs. As delineated here, following the Amphibian Species of the World, it contains 129 species. They are found from the southern United States south ...

Hedges, Duellmann & Heinicke, 2008 (formerly in Brachycephalidae) ***

Eleutherodactylidae The Eleutherodactylidae are a family of direct-developing frogs native to northern South America, the Caribbean, and southernmost North America. They are sometimes known under the common name rain frogs. Formerly the subfamily Eleutherodactylina ...

Lutz, 1954 (formerly in Brachycephalidae) ***

Strabomantidae The Strabomantidae are a family of frogs native to South America. These frogs lack a free-living larval stage and hatch directly into miniature "froglets". This family includes ''Pristimantis'', the most speciose genus of any vertebrate. System ...

Hedges, Duellmann & Heinicke, 2008 (some formerly in Brachycephalidae) **

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category contains both species commonly called toads, and the true toads from the family Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category contains both species commonly called toads, and the true toads from the family Bufonidae {{Cat m ...

– true toads ** Centrolenidae – glass frogs **

Ceratophryidae The Ceratophryidae, also known as common horned frogs, are a family of frogs found in South America. It is a relatively small family with three extant genera and 12 species. Despite the common name, not all species in the family have the horn-lik ...

– horned toads **

Cycloramphidae The Cycloramphidae are a family of frogs endemic to southeastern Brazil. This family has seen large changes in its composition. Genera that have at some point been included in the Cycloramphidae are at present placed in the Alsodidae, Hylodidae ...

** Clade Dendrobatoidea ***

Aromobatidae The Aromobatidae are a family of frogs native to Central and South America. They are sometimes referred to as cryptic forest frogs or cryptic poison frogs. They are the sister taxon of the Dendrobatidae, the poison dart frogs, but are not as to ...

– skunk frog (sometimes in Dendrobatidae) ***

Dendrobatidae Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the Family (biology), family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. T ...

– poison dart frogs **

Hemiphractidae The Hemiphractidae are a family of frogs from South and Central America. Previously, this group had been classified as a subfamily (Hemiphractinae) under family Hylidae. More recent research classifies these genera into their own family, or som ...

– marsupial frogs **

Hylidae Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as "tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semiaquatic. Taxonomy and s ...

– true

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not closely relat ...

s and relatives ** Hylodidae – giant Neotropical torrent frogs ** Leiuperidae (sometimes in Leptodactylidae) **

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 ...

– southern frogs, tropical frogs ** Odontophrynidae **

Rhinodermatidae Rhinodermatidae, also known as Darwin's frogs, mouth-breeding frogs or mouth-brooding frogs, is a small family of frogs found in temperate forests of southern Chile and adjacent Argentina. They are a unique and evolutionary significant group of ...

– Darwin's frogs **

Telmatobiidae ''Telmatobius'' is a genus of frogs native to the Andean highlands in South America, where they are found in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. It is the only genus in the family Telmatobiidae. Some sources recogni ...

– water frogs *Superfamily

Sooglossoidea Sooglossoidea is a superfamily of frogs. It contains only two highly divergent families consisting of three genera with two species each, one family being found in southwestern India and the other in the Seychelles. Taxonomy The Sooglossoidea ...

: ** Nasikabatrachidae – purple frogs **

Sooglossidae Sooglossidae, the Seychelles frogs or Seychelles Island frogs, are a family of frogs found on the Seychelles Islands. Until recently, this family was believed to include the genera ''Sechellophryne'', '' Nesomantis'' and '' Sooglossus'', but foll ...

– Seychelles frogs *Superfamily

Ranoidea The Ranoidea are a superfamily of frogs in the order Anura. Members of this superfamily are characterised by having the pectoral girdle fused into a single complex unit, having no ribs, and using an axillary grip during amplexus. The larvae ha ...

: **

Microhylidae The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family of frogs. The 683 species are in 63 genera and 11 subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family. Evolution A molecular phylo ...

– narrow-mouthed frogs **Clade

Afrobatrachia Afrobatrachia is clade of frogs in the suborder Neobatrachia, all of which are restricted to Africa, including some species in Madagascar and the Seychelles. It is the sister group to the clade Natatanura, which contains all other members of Ra ...

: ***

Arthroleptidae The Arthroleptidae are a family of frogs found in sub-Saharan Africa. This group includes African treefrogs in the genus ''Leptopelis'' along with the terrestrial breeding squeakers '' Arthroleptis'', and several genera restricted to the Guinea ...

– squeakers ***

Brevicipitidae Brevicipitidae or rain frogs is a small family of frogs found in eastern and southern Africa. As of 2020 contains 37 species in 5 genera. eb application 2013. Berkeley, CaliforniaBrevicipitidae AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/. ...

– rain frogs ***

Hemisotidae The shovelnose frogs are the species of frogs in the genus, ''Hemisus'', the only genus in the family Hemisotidae. They are found in tropical and subtropical sub-Saharan Africa. The shovelnose frogs are moderate-sized frogs, reaching a length o ...

– shovelnose frogs ***

Hyperoliidae The Hyperoliidae, or sedge frogs and bush frogs, are a large family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored frogs which contains more than 250 species in 19 genera. Seventeen genera are native to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the monotypic ...

– sedge frogs, " bush frogs" **Clade Natatanura: ***

Ceratobatrachidae The Ceratobatrachidae are a family of frogs found in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines, Palau, Fiji, New Guinea, and the Admiralty, Bismarck, and Solomon Islands. Taxonomy Ceratobatrachidae was formerly treated as a subfamily (i.e ...

*** Conrauidae ***

Dicroglossidae The frog family Dicroglossidae occurs in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa, with most genera and species being found in Asia. The common name of the family is fork-tongued frogs. The Dicroglossidae were previously considered to ...

– fork-tongued frogs *** Micrixalidae – dancing frogs ***

Mantellidae The Mantellidae are a family of the order Anura. These frogs are endemic to the islands of Madagascar and Mayotte. Systematics The family Mantellidae is composed of three extremely ecologically diverse groups of frogs, divided into three sub ...

– Malagasy frogs *** Nyctibatrachidae – night frogs *** Odontobatrachidae ***

Petropedetidae The Petropedetidae are a family of frogs containing three genera and 12 species. They are found in sub-Saharan tropical Africa and are sometimes known under common name African torrent frogs. They are inhabitants of the splash-water zone of cle ...

– torrent frogs ***

Phrynobatrachidae ''Phrynobatrachus'' is a genus of Sub-Saharan frogs that form the monogeneric family Phrynobatrachidae. Their common name is puddle frogs, dwarf puddle frogs, African puddle frogs, or African river frogs. The common name, puddle frog, refers to ...

– puddle frogs ***

Ptychadenidae Ptychadenidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the grassland frogs. These frogs occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ptychadenidae was previously considered to be a tribe or subfamily in the family Ranidae, but its position as a separate famil ...

– grassland frogs ***

Pyxicephalidae The Pyxicephalidae are a family of frogs currently found in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in the Eocene, the taxon '' Thaumastosaurus'' lived in Europe. Classification The Pyxicephalidae contain two subfamilies, with a total of 12 genera. This f ...

*** Ranidae – true frogs ***

Ranixalidae Ranixalidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the leaping frogs or Indian frogs. They are endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or oth ...

– Indian frogs ***

Rhacophoridae The Rhacophoridae are a family of frogs that occur in tropical sub-Saharan Africa, South India and Sri Lanka, Japan, northeastern India to eastern China and Taiwan, south through the Philippines and Greater Sundas, and Sulawesi. They are commonly ...

– shrub frogs, " bush frogs", " moss frogs"

Systematics

List of families

References

Further reading