Sooglossoidea is a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

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. It contains only two highly divergent

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 ...

consisting of three

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 ...

with two

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 ...

each, one family being found in southwestern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and the other in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

Taxonomy

The Sooglossoidea are an ancient division of the Neobatrachia; phylogenetic evidence indicates that they diverged from the rest of the Neobatrachia during the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

, about 125 million years ago, after colonizing Insular India from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. One family, the Nasikabatrachidae, remained in India; the other, Sooglossidae, was isolated on the Seychelles Microcontinent (which later turned into an island chain) after it split from India. Both families are thought to have diverged around the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Their exact phylogenetic relationships are disputed; previous studies found them to be the second-most basal member of the Neobatrachia, being sister to all other members of the group aside from Heleophrynidae, but more recent studies support them being significantly more derived and being the sister group to the

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 ...

. Sooglossoidea contains the following families: * Nasikabatrachidae - purple pignosed frogs (2 species) * Sooglossidae - Seychelles frogs (4 species)

References

{{Reflist Neobatrachia Vertebrate superfamilies