''Pristimantis'' is a very specious

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 distributed in the southern Caribbean islands (

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

) and in Central and South America from Honduras to northern Argentina and southern Brazil. With 617 described species (as of February 2025), the genus has more species than any other vertebrate genus. Many of these species genus are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the

Northwestern Andean montane forests The Northwestern Andean montane forests (NT0145) is an ecoregion on the Andes mountains in the west of Colombia and Ecuador. Both flora and fauna are highly diverse due to effect of ice ages when the warmer climate zones were separated and the cool ...

ecoregion in north-western South America.

Etymology

From the Greek πρίστις (serrated) and μάντις (arboreal frog).

Taxonomy

Placement of this genus has varied greatly. ''Pristimantis'' was long included in the massive genus ''

Eleutherodactylus ''Eleutherodactylus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Eleutherodactylidae.Hedges, S. B., W. E. Duellman, and M. P. Heinicke . 2008. New World direct-developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and c ...

'', and considered part of the family

Leptodactylidae The southern frogs form the Leptodactylidae, a name that comes from Greek meaning a bird or other animal having slender toes. They are a diverse family of frogs that most likely diverged from other hyloids during the Cretaceous. The family has u ...

. Currently, the genus is placed in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Strabomantidae The Strabomantidae, sometimes called cloud forest landfrogs, are a family of frogs native to South America. These frogs lack a free-living larval stage and hatch directly into miniature "froglets". This family includes '' Pristimantis'', the mo ...

, subfamily Strabomantinae.

Species

As of February 2025, 617 ''Pristimantis'' species had been named, but new ones continue to be described on a regular basis (e.g.,):

Notes

References

* P.J.R. Kok, Means, D.B., & Bossuyt, F. (2011). "A new highland species of ''Pristimantis'' Jimenez de la Espada, 1871 (Anura: Strabomantidae) from the Pantepui region, northern South America." ''Zootaxa'' 2934: 1–19. * T. Orrell. (custodian) (2012). ITIS Global: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (version April 2011). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 25 June 2012 (Bisby F., Roskov Y., Culham A., Orrell T., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L., Bailly N., Kirk P., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., eds). Digital resource at www.catalogueoflife.org/col/. Species 2000: Reading, UK. {{Taxonbar, from=Q53621 Strabomantidae Amphibian genera Amphibians of South America Amphibians of Central America Taxa named by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada