Phyllomedusinae is 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 ...

of hylid tree frogs found in the

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

s commonly called leaf frogs. Formerly, they were often considered as their own family, Phyllomedusidae. The subfamily is considered to be the sister group to the Australian treefrogs (

Pelodryadinae Pelodryadinae, also known as Australian treefrogs (although not all members are arboreal), is a subfamily of frogs found in the region of Australia and New Guinea, and have also been introduced to New Caledonia, Guam, New Zealand, and Vanuatu. ...

), a subfamily of frogs known from Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, despite being very geographically separated from them. The common ancestor of both subfamilies is thought to have lived in early

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

South America, where the Phyllomedusinae still live, with the two families diverging from one another during the

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

. The ancestors of Pelodryadinae likely colonized Australasia from South America via Antarctica, which at the time was not yet frozen over. The clade comprising both subfamilies is sister to the

Hylinae Hylinae is a large subfamily of "tree frogs", family Hylidae. Classification The contents of this subfamily vary substantially according to the source. The Amphibian Species of the World follows the revision by Duellman and colleagues from 201 ...

, from which they diverged in the early

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

Taxonomy

The subfamily Phyllomedusidae contains the following

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

: * ''

Agalychnis ''Agalychnis'' is a genus of 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 tre ...

'' (14 species) * ''

Callimedusa ''Callimedusa'' is a genus of frogs belonging to the subfamily Phyllomedusinae Phyllomedusinae is a subfamily of hylid tree frogs found in the Neotropics commonly called leaf frogs. Formerly, they were often considered as their own family, ...

'' (six species) * ''

Cruziohyla ''Cruziohyla'' is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. They occur from Nicaragua and Honduras in Central America south to the Amazon Basin in South America. This genus was erected in 2005 following a major revision of the Hylidae an ...

'' (three species) * ''

Hylomantis ''Hylomantis'' is a genus of tree frogs, the rough leaf frogs, native to the Atlantic forest in eastern Brazil. There are two recognized species; several others formerly placed in this genus now are placed in ''Agalychnis ''Agalychnis'' is a g ...

'' –

rough leaf frogs ''Hylomantis'' is a genus of 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 tre ...

(two species) * ''

Phasmahyla ''Phasmahyla'' is a genus of 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 tre ...

'' – shining leaf frogs (eight species) * '' Phrynomedusa'' – colored leaf frogs (five living species, plus one recently

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

) * ''

Phyllomedusa ''Phyllomedusa'' is a genus of tree frogs in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae found in tropical and subtropical South America (south to northern Argentina) and Panama. It has 16 recognised species. Taxonomy The following species are recognised i ...

'' (16 species) * ''

Pithecopus ''Pithecopus'' is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. Species of the genus ''Pithecopus'' are found in tropical South America east of the Andes, from southern Venezuela to northern Argentina. Resurrected from the synonymy of ''Phy ...

'' (12 species)

References

External links

Amphibian Species of the World
* http://www.tolweb.org/Phyllomedusinae * http://amphibiaweb.org/lists/Hylidae.shtml Tetrapod subfamilies Taxa named by Albert Günther {{Phyllomedusinae-stub