''Leptodactylus'' is a

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 ...

of leptodactylid

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. It includes the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

commonly called ditch frogs or white-lipped frogs. It is very similar to ''

Physalaemus ''Physalaemus'' is a large genus of Leptodactylidae, leptodactylid frogs. These frogs, sometimes known as dwarf frogs or foam frogs, are found in South America. It is very similar to ''Leptodactylus'', a close relative, and indeed the recently ...

'', a close relative, and indeed the 2005 described '' Leptodactylus lauramiriamae'' is in some aspects intermediate between them.

Etymology

The name means ‘slender finger’, from '' leptos'' (‘thin, delicate’) and the Greek ' (, ‘finger, toe’).

Taxonomy

The genus ''Leptodactylus'''s

sister taxon 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 ...

is the genus '' Hydrolaetare''. The genus is composed of 4 species groups. However, 3 species have not been assigned to a species group ('' L. hylodes'', ''L. lauramiriamae'', ''L. ochraceus'').

Species

There are 84 species in this genus:

Footnotes

References

* (2005): ''Leptodactylus lauramiriamae'', a distinctive new species of frog (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae) from Rondônia, Brazil. ''Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington'' 118(3): 590–595. DOI: 10.2988/0006-324X(2005)118 90:LLADNS.0.CO;2HTML abstract

External links

* * {{Authority control Amphibian genera Amphibians of Central America Amphibians of North America Amphibians of South America Amphibians of the Caribbean Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger