''Metaphrynella'' is a small genus of

microhylid The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family of frogs. The 683 species are in 57 genera and 11 subfamilies. Evolution A molecular phylogenetic study by van der Meijden, et al. (2007) has estima ...

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 from the southern

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

and

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. They are sometimes known as the Borneo treefrogs or tree hole frogs. The common name refers to the

microhabitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

of these frogs: males call from tree holes and

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 develop in the water contained in those holes.

Description

''Metaphrynella'' are small, arboreal frogs that have plump bodies and adhesive finger and toe tips.

Taxonomy

''Metaphrynella'' may be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

, as molecular dataDe Sá, R. O., Streicher, J. W., Sekonyela, R., Forlani, M. C., Loader, S. P., Greenbaum, E., … Haddad, C. F. B. (2012). Molecular phylogeny of microhylid frogs (Anura: Microhylidae) with emphasis on relationships among New World genera. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12, 241. http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-12-241 suggest that ''

Phrynella ''Phrynella'' is a genus of frogs in the family Microhylidae. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species, ''Phrynella pulchra''. It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moi ...

'' is phylogenetically imbedded within it. Another study suggests that its closest relatives are ''

Kaloula ''Kaloula'' is a genus of microhylid frogs found in southern and eastern Asia. They are sometimes known as the Asian narrowmouth toads. Species The genus currently has at least 19 species. Some sources also recognize ''Kaloula macrocephala'' Bo ...

'', ''

Uperodon ''Uperodon'' is a genus of microhylid frogs. They occur in South Asia (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh) and Myanmar. ''Uperodon'' reached its current composition in 2016 when the genus Ramanella was brought into its s ...

'', and ''

Ramanella ''Uperodon'' is a genus of microhylid frogs. They occur in South Asia (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh) and Myanmar. ''Uperodon'' reached its current composition in 2016 when the genus Ramanella was brought into its syn ...

''. A molecular phylogenetic study by De Sá et al. (2012) shows ''

'' to be a

sister clade 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 ...

of ''Metaphrynella''.

Species

There are two species:

References

Microhylidae Amphibians of Asia Amphibian genera Taxa named by Hampton Wildman Parker {{Microhylidae-stub