''Platyplectrum'' is a genus of ground-dwelling frog in the family

Limnodynastidae Limnodynastidae, commonly known as the Australian ground frogs, is a family (biology), family of frogs found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands. They were formerly considered a subfamily of the Myobatrachidae, the ...

. Species in this genus are found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, and on the

Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to: Education * Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States * Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England * Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university Places * Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...

. They are medium-sized frogs and the dorsal skin has a sandpaper-like texture. Although this genus was described in 1863 for the species '' Platyplectrum ornatum'', in 2009 it was synonymized with the genus '' Opisthodon.'' This classification was found to be paraphyletic with respect to the former genus ''Lechriodus''. For this reason, ''Platyplectrum'' was revived in 2021 for the members of ''Opisthodon'' and ''Lechriodus''. They inhabit a range of environments from arid areas to rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests, and are active after heavy rains in summer and rarely seen during drier conditions. Breeding takes place in temporary pools and small streams and the tadpoles as well as the frogs are noted for their cannibalistic behaviour, due to which some members are commonly known as cannibal frogs. They are terrestrial and burrowing, spend much time under ground, particularly during drier periods. Breeding occurs after rain, and males call from temporary or permanent water. The species in this genus are quite similar physically to many frogs in ''Limnodynastes'', they also share many of the same habits of that genus including: burrowing, a "tok" like call and foamy egg nest (which in ''Platyplectrum'' breaks down after a few hours).

Species

The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

species †'' Platypectrum casca'' ( Tyler & Godthelp, 1993) is known from the

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

of the

Tingamarra Fauna The Tingamarra Fauna is associated with the early Eocene Murgon fossil site, and contains the earliest known non-flying eutherian, passerine, trionychidae turtles, mekosuchine crocodiles along with frogs, lungfish and teleost fish in Australia. Th ...

of Queensland. This is the earliest record of the family.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q2335553 Platyplectrum Amphibian genera Taxa named by Albert Günther Amphibians of Australia Amphibians of New Guinea Amphibians described in 1863