__NOTOC__ ''Leiopelma'' is a genus of New Zealand primitive frogs, belonging to the

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Archaeobatrachia Archaeobatrachia (Neo-Latin ''archaeo-'' ("old") + ''batrachia'' ("frog")) is a suborder of the order Anura containing various primitive frogs and toads. As the name suggests, these are the most primitive frogs. Many of the species (28 in total) ...

. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Leiopelmatidae. The leiopelmatids' relatively basal form indicates they have an ancient lineage. While some taxonomists have suggested combining the North American frogs of the genus ''Ascaphus'' in the family Ascaphidae with the New Zealand frogs of the genus ''Leiopelma'' in the family Leiopelmatidae, the current consensus is that these two groups constitute two separate families. The three extant species of Leiopelmatidae are only found in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Overview

The New Zealand primitive frogs' defining characteristics are their extra

vertebrae Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal ...

(for a total of nine) and the remains of the tail

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

s (the tail itself is absent in adults, although it is present in the younger frogs, which need the extra skin surface until their lungs are fully developed). The family Ascaphidae (found only in North America), of the same suborder, shares these primitive characteristics, hence the two have often been described as related, or even part of the same family. Late jump recovery is unique in Leiopelmatidae. When leiopelmatid species jump, they land in a "belly flop" fashion, repositioning their limbs for takeoff for the next jump only after hitting the ground with the ventral surface of their torsos. The appearance of early jump recovery in more advanced taxa is a key innovation in anuran evolution. They are unusually small frogs, only in length. Most species lay their eggs in moist ground, typically under rocks or vegetation. After hatching, 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 nest in the male's back, all without the need for standing or flowing water. However,

Hochstetter's frog Hochstetter's frog or Hochstetter's New Zealand frog (''Leiopelma hochstetteri'') is a primitive frog native to New Zealand, one of only three extant species belonging to the taxonomic family Leiopelmatidae. They possess some of the most ancient ...

lays its eggs in shallow ponds and has free-living tadpoles, although they do not swim far from the place of hatching, or even feed, before metamorphosing into adult frogs. Lifespans may be long (more than 30 years) for such small organisms. Introduced fauna are thought to have had a negative impact on these native frogs, with 93% of all reported predation events on native frogs being attributed to introduced fauna, primarily

ship rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus '' Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is ...

Taxonomy & systematics

Species

Family Leiopelmatidae * Genus ''Leiopelma'' ** Archey's frog, ''Leiopelma archeyi'' Turbott, 1942 ** Hamilton's frog, ''Leiopelma hamiltoni'' McCulloch, 1919 **

, ''Leiopelma hochstetteri'' Fitzinger, 1861

Extinct species

Three extinct species are known by

subfossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains, also from New Zealand. They became extinct during the past 1,000 years. * †Aurora frog, '' Leiopelma auroraensis'' * †Markham's frog,'' Leiopelma markhami'' * †Waitomo frog, '' Leiopelma waitomoensis'' One species from the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Leiopelma bishopi __NOTOC__ ''Leiopelma'' is a genus of New Zealand primitive frogs, belonging to the suborder Archaeobatrachia. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Leiopelmatidae. The leiopelmatids' relatively basal form indicates they have an ancient l ...

'' Easton, Tennyson and Rawlence, 2021 Two species are known from

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

deposits of the

Saint Bathans fauna The St Bathans fauna is found in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group of Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It comprises a suite of fossilised prehistoric animals from the late Early Miocene (Altonian) perio ...

, with indeterminate remains possibly representing additional species * †'' Leiopelma miocaenale'' * †'' Leiopelma acricarina''

Evolutionary history

DNA analysis indicates that Leiopelmatidae share a distant common ancestry with Ascaphidae to the exclusion of all other frogs, and Leiopelmatidae and Ascaphidae diverged from all other frogs around 200 million years ago. ''L. archeyi'' and ''L. hochstetteri'' are thought to have diverged from each other between 40 and 50 million years ago, based on genomic divergence estimates. Fossils of the genus are known from the early

(19–16 million years ago) aged St Bathans Fauna of New Zealand.

References

External links

New Zealand Frog Conservation Biology
- research on New Zealand frog biology {{Authority control Leiopelmatidae Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger Amphibian genera Extant Burdigalian first appearances Endemic amphibians of New Zealand