Heleophrynidae is a

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 ...

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

, commonly known as ghost frogs. They are thought to be the most basal group in the

Neobatrachia The Neobatrachia (Neo-Latin ''neo-'' ("new") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) are a suborder of the Frog, Anura, the order (biology), order of frogs and toads. This suborder is the most advanced and apomorphic of the three anuran suborders alive toda ...

. The family consists of two

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, '' Heleophryne'' and '' Hadromophryne'', with seven species. Ghost frogs live in swift-moving mountain streams in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The common name of "ghost frogs" may have been coined because of their occurrence in Skeleton Gorge.

Taxonomy

The ghost frogs were formerly thought to be closely related to the

Sooglossidae Sooglossidae, the Seychelles frogs or Seychelles Island frogs, are a family of frogs found on the Seychelles Islands. Until recently, this family was believed to include the genera '' Sechellophryne'', '' Nesomantis'' and '' Sooglossus'', but fo ...

of the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

(which are now thought to be a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

Ranoidea The Ranoidea are a Taxonomic rank, superfamily of frogs in the order Anura. Members of this superfamily are characterised by having the pectoral girdle fused into a single complex unit, having no ribs, and using an axillary grip during amplexus ...

), or to the Australian

Myobatrachidae Myobatrachidae, commonly known as Australian ground frogs or Australian water frogs, is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than long, to the second-largest frog in ...

, which are now thought to be a sister group to

Hyloidea Hyloidea is a superfamily of frogs.R.Alexander Pyron, John J.Wiens, 2011, ''A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians'' Hyloidea accounts for 54% ...

. In contrast, more recent taxonomic studies place them as being the most basal extant members of the

and having no close relatives, having diverged from the rest of the Neobatrachia during the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

, about 140 million years ago. Family Heleophrynidae * Genus '' Hadromophryne'' Van Dijk, 2008 ** Natal ghost frog, ''Hadromophryne natalensis'' Hewitt, 1913 * Genus '' Heleophryne'' Sclater, 1898 ** Cederberg ghost frog, ''Heleophryne depressa'' FitzSimons, 1946 ** Hewitt's ghost frog, ''Heleophryne hewitti'' Boycott, 1988 ** Eastern ghost frog, ''Heleophryne orientalis'' FitzSimons, 1946 ** Purcell's ghost frog, ''Heleophryne purcelli'' Sclater, 1898 ** Royal ghost frog, ''Heleophryne regis'' Hewitt, 1910 ** Rose's ghost frog, ''Heleophryne rosei'' Hewitt, 1925

Biology

Ghost frogs have morphological adaptations suited to surviving on the rocks around these streams. They only come out on full moons. They are medium-sized frogs, reaching a length of , with flat bodies, enabling them to climb inside rocky crevices. They have very large toe discs in comparison to their size, which helps to cling onto rocks. With the help of the labial teeth the

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, ...

s contain in their mouths, the mouthparts are modified into sucking discs, to allow them to cling to substrates, and remain still while they are feeding.

EDGE endangered species

On January 21, 2008, Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) identified nature's most "weird, wonderful and endangered species", stating that "the EDGE

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

are amongst the most remarkable and unusual species on the planet and yet an alarming 85% of the top 100 are receiving little or no conservation attention." Due to the very ancient origins and deep genetic divergence of Heleophrynidae, the Table Mountain ghost frog (''Heleophryne rosei'') was listed as #11 on the list.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q55470 Neobatrachia Frogs of Africa Amphibians of South Africa