''Pseudopaludicola'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of leptodactylid

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 from lowland northern and central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. They are known under the common name dwarf swamp frogs or swamp frogs.

Systematics

''Pseudopaludicola'' are small frogs, growing maximally to in snout–vent length. The

synapomorphy 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 ...

defining this genus is the greatly enlarged tubercle on the outer edge of the forearm (i.e., hypertrophied antebrachial tubercle). Genetic analyses have recovered this genus as

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

, in accordance with earlier studies using morphological characters. Genetic data suggest four major

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 within the genus.

Species

Following the Amphibian Species of the World, there are currently 25 species in this genus:

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 ...

also lists ''

Pseudopaludicola serrana ''Pseudopaludicola'' is a genus of leptodactylid frogs from lowland northern and central South America. They are known under the common name dwarf swamp frogs or swamp frogs. Systematics ''Pseudopaludicola'' are small frogs, growing maximally ...

'', whereas the Amphibian Species of the World considers it

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''

Pseudopaludicola murundu ''Pseudopaludicola'' is a genus of leptodactylid frogs from lowland northern and central South America. They are known under the common name dwarf swamp frogs or swamp frogs. Systematics ''Pseudopaludicola'' are small frogs, growing maximally ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2590469 Leptodactylidae Amphibians of South America Amphibian genera Taxa named by Alípio de Miranda-Ribeiro