The Petropedetidae are a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
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 containing three genera and 12 species.
They are found in
sub-Saharan
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...
tropical Africa
[ and are sometimes known under common name African torrent frogs.]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 i ...
s are either semiterrestrial in the spray zone or fully aquatic in zones of the strongest currents. Some species guard their clutches.[ They are small ('' Ericabatrachus'') or medium- to large-sized frogs ('' Arthroleptides'' and '' Petropedetes'').][
]
Taxonomy
The Petropedetidae are related to true frog
True frogs is the common name for the frog family Ranidae. They have the widest distribution of any frog family. They are abundant throughout most of the world, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. The true frogs are present in North A ...
s, family Ranidae, and have often been considered as a subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
within a broadly defined Ranidae.[ although the genera included may differ between sources. In particular, '']Conraua
''Conraua'', known as slippery frogs or giant frogs is a genus of large frogs from sub-Saharan Africa. ''Conraua'' is the only genus in the family Conrauidae. Alternatively, it may be placed in the family Petropedetidae.
This genus includes the ...
'' is sometimes included in the Petropedetidae,[ instead of forming its own monogeneric family Conrauidae.]
Genera
The three genera in the family are:[
* '' Arthroleptides'' Nieden, 1911 – African torrent frogs, three species
* '' Ericabatrachus'' Largen, 1991 – Bale Mountains frogs, one species
* '' Petropedetes'' Reichenow, 1874 – African water frogs, nine species
Recognition of '' Arthroleptides'' as a genus separate from '' Petropedetes'' is relatively recent.]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q964342
Amphibian families
Taxa named by Gladwyn Kingsley Noble
Afrotropical realm fauna