''Stefania'' is a genus of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s in the family

Hemiphractidae The Hemiphractidae are a family of frogs from South and Central America. Previously, this group had been classified as a subfamily (Hemiphractinae) under family Hylidae. More recent research classifies these genera into their own family, or som ...

. They are native to the highlands of the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (; ; ; ) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on ...

in southern

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

, and adjacent far northern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Most are restricted to the

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a member of a family of table-top mountains or mesas found in northern South America, especially in Venezuela, western Guyana, and northern Brazil. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the ...

highlands, but '' S. evansi'' also occurs in lowlands. On most mountains there are only 1–2 species from this genus, but five are known from

Mount Ayanganna Mount Ayanganna is a sandstone tepui in the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana, and located east of Mount Roraima. With a height of it is the easternmost tepui taller than . It is part of the Guiana Shield and Guyana Highlands. Ecology Th ...

and the neighbouring

Mount Wokomung Mount Wokomung is a sandstone tepui in the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana, the summit is 1700 metres. Together with Mount Ayanganna, 37 km to the north, Wokomung constitutes the easternmost tepui reaching above 1500 metres. The slop ...

has six species. They are usually found near streams at low levels on branches/leaves or on the ground among vegetation/rocks. They are famous for their breeding strategy where the development from eggs to froglets is completed on the back of the female (the eggs hatch to froglets; there is no free-swimming

tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

stage). The common name carrying frog is sometimes used for ''Stefania'' species and it refers to this behavior. A comparable behavior can also be seen in the other genera in the family Hemiphractidae.

Species

There are 20 ''Stefania'' species:

References

Hemiphractidae Amphibians of South America Amphibian genera Taxa named by Juan A. Rivero Amphibians of the Tepuis {{Hemiphractidae-stub