List of Anuran families
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (June 2009) |
This list of Anuran families shows all extant families of Anura. Anura is the name of an order of animals in the class Amphibia that includes frogs and toads. More than 5,000 species are described in the order. The living anurans are typically divided into three suborders: Archaeobatrachia, Mesobatrachia, and Neobatrachia. This classification is based on such morphological features as the number of vertebrae, the structure of the pectoral girdle, and the morphology of tadpoles.
Taxonomy
The archaeobatrachians are the most primitive of frogs. These frogs have morphological characteristics which are found mostly in extinct frogs, and are absent in most of the modern frog species. Most of these characteristics are not common between all the families of Archaeobatrachia, or are not absent from all the modern species of frogs. However, all archaeobatrachians have free vertebrae, whereas all other species of frogs have their ribs fused to their vertebrae.
The Neobatrachia comprise the most modern species of frogs. Most of these frogs have morphological features which are more complex than those of the mesobatrachians and archaeobatrachians. The neobatrachians all have a palatine bone, which braces the upper jaw to the neurocranium. This is absent in all Archaeobatrachia and some Mesobatrachia. The third distal carpus is fused with the remaining carpal bones. The adductor longus muscle is present in the neobatrachians, but absent in the archaeobatrachians and some mesobatrachians. It is believed to have differentiated from pectineus muscle, and this differentiation has not occurred in the primitive frogs.
The Mesobatrachia are considered the evolutionary link between the Archaeobatrachia and the Neobatrachia. The families within the mesobatrachian suborder generally contain morphological features typical of both the other suborders. For example, the palatine bone is absent in all archaeobatrachians, and present in all neobatrachians. However, within the mesobatrachians families, it can be dependent on the species as to whether the palatine bone is present.
Due to the many morphological features which separate the frogs, many different systems are used for the classification of the anuran suborders. These different classification systems usually split the Mesobatrachia suborder.
Families
| Archaeobatrachia - four families, six genera, 27 species | ||||
| Family | Genera | Common names | Example species | Example photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascaphidae Fejérváry, 1923 |
1 | Tailed frogs | Tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) | 
|
| Bombinatoridae Gray, 1825 |
2 | Fire-belly toads | European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) | .jpg)
|
| Discoglossidae Günther, 1858 |
3 | Painted frogs or disc-tongued frogs | Portuguese or Iberian painted frog (Discoglossus galganoi) | 
|
| Leiopelmatidae Mivart, 1869 |
1 | New Zealand primitive frogs | Hochstetters frog (Leiopelma hochstetteri) | 
|
| Mesobatrachia - six families, 21 genera, 168 species | ||||
| Family | Genera | Common names | Example species | Example photo |
| Megophryidae Bonaparte, 1850 |
11 | Litter frogs or short-legged toads | Long-nosed horned frog (Megophrys nasuta) | 
|
| Pelobatidae Bonaparte, 1850 |
1 | European spadefoot toads | Common spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus) | .jpg)
|
| Pelodytidae Bonaparte, 1850 |
1 | Parsley frogs | Common parsley frog (Pelodytes punctatus) | 
|
| Pipidae Gray, 1825 |
5 | Tongueless frogs or clawed frogs | African dwarf frog (Hymenochirus boettgeri) | 
|
| Rhinophrynidae Günther, 1859 |
1 | Mexican burrowing toad | Mexican burrowing toad (Rhinophrynus dorsalis) | 
|
| Scaphiopodidae Cope, 1865 |
2 | American spadefoot toads | Western spadefoot toad (Spea hammondii) | 
|
| Neobatrachia - 21 families, more than 5,000 species | ||||
| Family | Genera | Common names | Example species | Example photo |
| Allophrynidae Goin, Goin, and Zug, 1978 |
1 | Tukeit Hill frog | Tukeit Hill frog (Allophryne ruthveni) | - |
| Amphignathodontidae Boulenger, 1882 |
2 | Marsupial frogs | Marsupial frog (Gastrotheca excubitor) | 
|
| Arthroleptidae Mivart, 1869 |
8 | Screeching frogs or squeakers | Tanzanian screeching frog (Arthroleptis tanneri) | - |
| Brachycephalidae Günther, 1858 |
1 | Saddleback toads | Brazilian gold frog (Brachycephalus didactylus) | - |
| Bufonidae Gray, 1825 |
35 | True toads | Common toad (Bufo bufo) | .jpg)
|
| Centrolenidae Taylor, 1951 |
3 | Glass frogs | Bare-hearted glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium colymbiphyllum) | 
|
| Dendrobatidae Cope, 1865 |
9 | Poison dart frogs | Yellow-banded poison dart frog (Dendrobates leucomelas) | 
|
| Heleophrynidae Noble, 1931 |
1 | Ghost frogs | Natal ghost frog (Heleophryne natalensis) | - |
| Hemisotidae Cope, 1867 |
1 | Shovelnose frogs | Marbled snout-burrower or mottled shovelnose frog (Hemisus marmoratus) | - |
| Hylidae Rafinesque, 1815 |
42 | Tree frogs | White's tree frog (Litoria caerulea) | _crop.jpg)
|
| Hyperoliidae Laurent, 1943 |
20 | Sedge frogs or bush frogs | Big-eyed tree frog (Leptopelis vermiculatus) | 
|
| Leptodactylidae Werner, 1896 |
49 | Southern frogs or tropical frogs | Cliff chirping frog (Eleutherodactylus marnockii) | 
|
| Mantellidae Laurent, 1946 |
12 | - | Golden mantella (Mantella aurantiaca) | 
|
| Microhylidae Günther, 1858 |
62 | Narrow Mouthed Frogs | Eastern narrow-mouthed toad (Gastrophryne carolinensis) | 
|
| Myobatrachidae Schlegel In Gray, 1850 |
20 | Australian ground frogs | Great barred frog (Mixophyes fasciolatus) | 
|
| Ranidae Rafinesque, 1814 |
52 | True frogs | American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) | 
|
| Rhacophoridae Hoffman, 1932 |
9 | Moss frogs | Malabar gliding frog (Rhacophorus malabaricus) | 
|
| Rhinodermatidae Bonaparte, 1850 |
1 | Darwin's frogs | Darwin's frog (Rhinoderma darwinii) | 
|
| Sooglossidae Noble, 1931 |
2 | Seychelles frogs | Gardiner's Seychelles frog (Sooglossus gardineri) | - |
References
- Myers, P.; R. Espinosa; C. S. Parr; T. Jones; G. S. Hammond; T. A. Dewey (2006). "Order Anura (frogs and toads)". The Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Retrieved 2006-05-13.
- Frost, Darrel (2004). "Anura Merrem, 1820". Amphibian Species of the World 3.0, an Online Reference. The American Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2006-04-28. Retrieved 2006-05-13.
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- Duellman, William E.; Linda Trueb (1994). Biology of Amphibians. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4780-X.
- Cannatella, David; Ford, Linda; Bockstanz, Lori (1995). "Neobatrachia". Tree of Life Web Project. Retrieved 2006-05-19.