''Glyphoglossus'' is a genus of frogs in the family

Microhylidae The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family (biology), family of frogs. The 683 species are in 57 genera and 11 subfamilies. Evolution A molecular phylogenetic study by van der Meijden, et al. ...

. The genus occurs in Southeastern Asia. Common name balloon frogs has been coined for it, whereas the common name squat frogs refers to the ''Calluella'' species that are now included in this genus. They are

fossorial A fossorial animal () is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily (but not solely) underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are Mole (animal), moles, badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamand ...

frogs that spend only limited time on the soil surface and are typically known from only few specimens.

Taxonomy

''Glyphoglossus'', as currently delimited, includes species formerly included in a separate genus, ''Calluella''. Molecular genetic data strongly suggest that ''Glyphoglossus'' is nested within ''Calluella''. Consequently, ''Calluella'' was brought into

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Glyphoglossus''.

Description

Diagnostic characteristics of ''Calluella'' are wide head and flattened body; reduced eyes; presence of maxillary and

vomerine teeth The vomer (; ) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms t ...

; toes with reduced webbing; circular

pupil The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black becau ...

; large, oval, and entire tongue;

palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sep ...

having paired dermal ridges; and a large compressed inner

metatarsal The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges ( toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are ...

tubercle under each foot. Species of this Genus are found in the range from Southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

to Indo-Malaya

Species

There are nine recognized species: * '' Glyphoglossus brooksii'' (Boulenger, 1904) * ''

Glyphoglossus capsus ''Glyphoglossus'' is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. The genus occurs in Southeastern Asia. Common name balloon frogs has been coined for it, whereas the common name squat frogs refers to the ''Calluella'' species that are now includ ...

'' (Das, Min, Hsu, Hertwig, and Haas, 2014) * '' Glyphoglossus flavus'' (Kiew, 1984) * '' Glyphoglossus guttulatus'' (Blyth, 1856) * '' Glyphoglossus minutus'' (Das, Yaakob, and Lim, 2004) * '' Glyphoglossus molossus'' Günther, 1869 * '' Glyphoglossus smithi'' (Barbour and Noble, 1916) * ''

Glyphoglossus volzi ''Glyphoglossus volzi'', also known as Sumatra squat frog, is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Sumatra, Indonesia. The specific name ''volzi'' honours Dr Walter Volz, a Swiss zoologist and traveller. ''Glyphoglossus ...

'' (Van Kampen, 1905) * '' Glyphoglossus yunnanensis'' (Boulenger, 1919)

References

Microhylidae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Albert Günther Fauna of the Indomalayan realm {{Microhylidae-stub