''Sphaenorhynchus'' is a genus 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 in the family

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 ...

. They are also known as lime treefrogs or hatchet-faced treefrogs. They are found in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

River basins of South America, the

Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, and southern and eastern Brazil. The majority of the species are associated with the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

domain in Brazil.

Systematics

''Sphaenorhynchus'' has been suggested to be the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

of the

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, ...

Scarthyla ''Scarthyla'' is a genus of tree frogs, the family 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 ...

'' + ''

Scinax ''Scinax'' is a genus of frogs (snouted treefrogs) in the family Hylidae found in eastern and southern Mexico to Argentina and Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island ...

''. Faivovich and colleagues (2005) placed it in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Dendropsophini, together with ''

Dendropsophus ''Dendropsophus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. They are distributed in Central and South America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay. They are sometimes known under the common name Fitzinger neotropical treefrogs ...

'', ''

Lysapsus ''Lysapsus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae found in South America east of the Andes. Their common name is harlequin frogs. Many frogs in ''Lysapsus'' have a paradoxical life cycle. They are most massive when they are older tadpoles ...

'', ''

Pseudis ''Pseudis'' is a genus of South American frogs (swimming frogs) in the family Hylidae. They are often common and frequently heard, but easily overlooked because of their camouflage and lifestyle, living in lakes, ponds, marshes and similar waters ...

'', ''Scarthyla'', ''Scinax'', and ''

Xenohyla ''Xenohyla'' is a genus of tree frogs in the family Hylidae that is endemic to xeric habitats of coastal Brazil, with '' Xenohyla eugenioi'' native to the State of Bahia and the State of Sergipe, and '' Xenohyla truncata'' native to the State o ...

''.

Description

''Sphaenorhynchus'' are small to moderately sized frogs. They are bright green or yellowish green in life. The snout is pointed and projecting in lateral view. Most species have well-developed horizontal dermal flaps on each side of the anus. The fingers are weakly webbed while the toes are extensively webbed. Males have a

vocal sac The vocal sac is the flexible membrane of skin possessed by most male frogs and toads. The purpose of the vocal sac is usually as an amplification of their mating or advertisement call. The presence or development of the vocal sac is one way o ...

on the posterior throat region.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus ''Sphaenorhynchus'':

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2311063 Hylidae Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi