''Lysapsus'' is a genus of
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 in the family
Hylidae
Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as " tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semiaquatic.
Taxonomy and ...
found in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
east of the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
. Their common name is harlequin frogs.
Many frogs in ''Lysapsus'' have a paradoxical life cycle. They are most massive when they are older tadpoles and slightly smaller when they are adult frogs.
Species
There are four species:
Lysapsus limellum
''Lysapsus limellum'', sometimes known as the Uruguay harlequin frog, is a species of frog in the family Hylidae found in northern Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, subtropical or tropical ...
'' (Cope, 1862)
The status of ''Lysapsus bolivianus'' is unclear; it might be a subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of ''Lysapsus limellum''.
References
Amphibian genera
Frogs of Brazil
Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope
{{Hylidae-stub