''Stumpffia'' 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 ...

microhylid The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family (biology), family of frogs. The 683 species are in 63 genera and 11 subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family. Evolution ...

frogs that are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. They are mostly brown frogs that typically live among leaf litter. ''S. contumelia'' has a

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

of about , making it one of the world's smallest frogs, and several others in the genus are only slightly larger. The largest species is no more than . The majority of the species have only been described since 2010. Each species has a small range and many are seriously

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

Taxonomy

''Stumpffia'' was first described from the single species '' Stumpffia psologlossa'' Boettger, 1881, based on a single specimen collected on

Nosy Be Nosy Be (formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be) is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisional results of t ...

, a large island off the northwest coast of Madagascar, by Anotonio Stumpff. By 2017, 15 species were recognised. In late 2017, a major revision of the genus was published. This study used integrative

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

, i.e. the combination of multiple different datasets, to delimit and describe new species: it combined morphological,

morphometric Morphometrics (from Greek μορϕή ''morphe'', "shape, form", and -μετρία ''metria'', "measurement") or morphometry refers to the quantitative analysis of ''form'', a concept that encompasses size and shape. Morphometric analyses are co ...

, chromatic (color), bioacoustic (voice), and genetic data to provide new data on the 15 described species of ''Stumpffia'', and describe a further 26 new species.

Debate on synonymy with ''Rhombophryne''

The genus ''Stumpffia'' was proposed to be a junior

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 ''

Rhombophryne ''Rhombophryne'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It is currently estimated to include more than 23 species, but only 20 of these are currently described. The common name 'diamond frog' has been proposed and used for members ...

'' in 2016, but this proposal was disputed and reversed by authors of a subsequent study, on the basis of their reciprocal

monophyly 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 grou ...

and consistent morphological differences between the two genera that allow them to be distinguished. The latter study established a new genus, ''

Anilany ''Anilany helenae'' is a species of frog in the microyhlid subfamily Cophylinae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Anilany'', and is endemic to central Madagascar. Taxonomy This species was originally described by Denis Vallan in ...

'' for "''Stumpffia''" ''helenae'', a species that would otherwise have rendered ''Stumpffia''

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

, and which is morphologically and genetically highly distinct from any species of ''Rhombophryne'' or ''Stumpffia.'' This debate was continued in 2017, with one group of authors continuing to advocate for synonymy of these two genera plus ''Anilany'', while the other group of authors continued to advocate for separate treatment of these genera based on their monophyly and morphological distinction allowing them to be distinguished with comparative ease. There was a temporary impasse, wherein th
Amphibian Species of the World
database continued to adopt the single-genus taxonomy, and as a result, so too did the

IUCN Red List of Endangered Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

and other online databases (e.g.

iNaturalist iNaturalist is a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applic ...

) that draw from that resource. Meanwhile
AmphibiaWeb
continued to use the three-genus taxonomy, as did the taxonomists working on cophyline systematics, and other groups working more broadly on frog evolution and taxonomy. In March 2019, a new genus, ''

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

'', was described for the miniaturised frogs previously confused with ''Stumpffia'' that are more closely related to ''

Plethodontohyla ''Plethodontohyla'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. Species There are at present 11 species: * '' Plethodontohyla alluaudi'' (Mocquard, 1901) * '' Plethodontohyla bipunctata'' (Guibé, 1974) * '' Plethodontohyla brevipes'' ...

.'' Evidence in this study, as well as that presented in a paper by Na Tu et al. in 2018, helped to clarify the taxonomic situation, and th
Amphibian Species of the World
database reverted to treating ''Rhombophryne'', ''Anilany'', and ''Stumpffia'' as valid genera.

Species

There are over 40 currently recognised species: The taxon '' Stumpffia helenae' Vallan, 2000 was transferred to ''

'' and therefore does not appear on this list.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1986666 Cophylinae Endemic frogs of Madagascar Amphibian genera Taxa named by Oskar Boettger