The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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. The 683 species are in 57 genera and 11 subfamilies.

Evolution

A molecular phylogenetic study by van der Meijden, et al. (2007) has estimated the initial internal divergence of the family Microhylidae to have taken place about 66 million years ago, or immediately after the Cretaceous extinction event. The

most recent common ancestor A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

of the Microhylidae and their closest ranoid relatives is estimated to have lived 116 million years ago in

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

Description

As suggested by their name, microhylids are mostly small frogs. Many species are below in length, although some species are as large as . They can be

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

or terrestrial, and some even live close to water. The ground-dwellers are often found under leaf litter within forests, occasionally venturing out at night to hunt. The two main shapes for the microhylids are wide bodies and narrow mouths and normal frog proportions. Those with narrow mouths generally eat

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

s and

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s, and the others have diets typical of most frogs. Egg-laying habits are highly varied.

Reproduction

The microhylids of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

completely bypass 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, ...

stage, with direct development from

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

to frog. The arboreal species can therefore lay the eggs within the trees, and never need venture to the ground. Where species do have tadpoles, these almost always lack the teeth or horny beaks typical of the tadpoles of other families.

Anatomy

The skull has paired

palatines Palatines () were the citizens and princes of the Palatinates, Holy Roman States that served as capitals for the Holy Roman Emperor. After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the nationality referred more specifically to residents of the ...

and frontoparietals. The facial nerve passes through the anterior acoustic foramen in the auditory capsule; the trigeminal and facial nerve ganglia are fused to form a prootic ganglion. The eight (or seven) presacral holochordal vertebrae are all procoelous except for a biconcave surface on last presacral. The pectoral girdle is firmisternal and some show reduced clavicle and procoracoids. The terminal phalanges are blunt, pointed, or T-shaped. The tadpole lacks keratinized mouth parts and has a large spiracular chamber emptied by a caudomedial spiracle.

Taxonomy

* subfamily Adelastinae Peloso, Frost, Richards, Rodrigues, Donnellan, Matsui, Raxworthy, Biju, Lemmon, Lemmon, & Wheeler, 2015 ** genus '' Adelastes'' Zweifel, 1986 * subfamily Asterophryinae Günther, 1858 ** genus '' Aphantophryne'' Fry, 1917 ** genus '' Asterophrys'' Tschudi, 1838 ** genus ''

Austrochaperina ''Austrochaperina'' is a genus of microhylid frogs found on New Guinea, New Britain and Australia. Taxonomy The genus was removed from the synonymy of '' Sphenophryne'' by Richard Zweifel in 2000. However, as currently defined, it might not ...

'' Fry, 1912 ** genus '' Barygenys'' Parker, 1936 ** genus '' Callulops'' Boulenger, 1888 ** genus '' Choerophryne'' Van Kampen, 1914 ** genus '' Cophixalus'' Boettger, 1892 ** genus '' Copiula'' Méhely, 1901 ** genus '' Gastrophrynoides'' Noble, 1926 ** genus '' Hylophorbus'' Macleay, 1878 ** genus '' Mantophryne'' Boulenger, 1897 ** genus '' Oninia'' Günther, Stelbrink & von Rintelen, 2010 ** genus ''

Oreophryne ''Oreophryne'', the cross frogs, is a genus of microhylid frogs. They are found in the southern Philippines, Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands, and New Guinea and New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archi ...

'' Boettger, 1895 ** genus ''

Paedophryne ''Paedophryne'' (from the Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek ''paedos'' (παίδος) "child" and ''phryne'' (φρύνος) "toad, frog") is a genus of Microhylidae, microhylid frogs from Papua New Guinea, including D'Entrecasteaux Islands. ...

'' Kraus, 2010 ** genus '' Siamophryne'' Suwannapoom, Sumontha, Tunprasert, Ruangsuwan, Pawangkhanant, Korost, and Poyarkov, 2018 ** genus '' Sphenophryne'' Peters & Doria, 1878 ** genus '' Vietnamophryne'' Poyarkov, Suwannapoom, Pawangkhanant, Aksornneam, Duong, Korost and Che, 2018 ** genus '' Xenorhina'' Peters, 1863 * subfamily Chaperininae Peloso, Frost, Richards, Rodrigues, Donnellan, Matsui, Raxworthy, Biju, Lemmon, Lemmon, & Wheeler, 2015 ** genus '' Chaperina'' Mocquard, 1892 * subfamily Cophylinae Cope, 1889 ** genus '' Anilany'' Scherz, Vences, Rakotoarison, Andreone, Köhler, Glaw, and Crottini, 2016 ** genus '' Anodonthyla'' Müller, 1892 ** genus '' Cophyla'' Boettger, 1880 ** genus '' Madecassophryne'' Guibé, 1974 ** genus ''

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

'' Scherz, Hutter, Rakotoarison, Riemann, Rödel, Ndriantsoa, Glos, Roberts, Crottini, Vences & Glaw, 2019 ** genus '' Plethodontohyla'' Boulenger, 1882 ** genus ''

Rhombophryne ''Rhombophryne'' is a genus of Microhylidae, microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It is currently estimated to include more than 23 species, but only 20 of these are currently described. The common name 'diamond frog' has been proposed and use ...

'' Boettger, 1880 ** genus '' Stumpffia'' Botteger, 1881 * subfamily Dyscophinae Boulenger, 1882 ** genus '' Dyscophus'' Grandidier, 1872 * subfamily Gastrophryninae Fitzinger, 1843 ** genus '' Arcovomer'' Carvalho, 1954 ** genus '' Chiasmocleis'' Méhely, 1904 ** genus '' Ctenophryne'' Mocquard, 1904 ** genus '' Dasypops'' Miranda-Ribeiro, 1924 ** genus '' Dermatonotus'' Méhely, 1904 ** genus '' Elachistocleis'' Parker, 1927 ** genus '' Gastrophryne'' Fitzinger, 1843 ** genus '' Hamptophryne'' Carvalho, 1954 ** genus '' Hypopachus'' Keferstein, 1867 ** genus '' Myersiella'' Carvalho, 1954 ** ChubbyFrog 02

genus '' Stereocyclops'' Cope, 1870 * subfamily Hoplophryninae Noble, 1931 ** genus ''

Hoplophryne ''Hoplophryne'' is a genus of Microhylidae, microhylid frogs. The genus is endemic to mountain forests of Tanzania. They are also known as three-fingered frogs or African banana frogs (not to be confused with ''Afrixalus'', another African genus ...

'' Barbour & Loveridge, 1928 ** genus '' Parhoplophryne'' Barbour & Loveridge, 1928 * subfamily Kalophryninae Mivart, 1869 ** genus '' Kalophrynus'' Tschudi, 1838 * subfamily Melanobatrachinae Noble, 1931 ** genus '' Melanobatrachus'' Beddome, 1878 * subfamily Microhylinae Günther, 1858 ** genus '' Glyphoglossus'' Gunther, 1869 "1868" ** genus '' Kaloula'' Gray, 1831 ** genus '' Metaphrynella'' Parker, 1934 ** genus '' Microhyla'' Tschudi, 1838 ** genus '' Micryletta'' Dubois, 1987 ** genus '' Mysticellus'' Sonali & Biju, 2019 ** Scaphiophryne gottlebei02

genus '' Nanohyla'' ** genus '' Phrynella'' Boulenger, 1887 ** genus ''

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 ...

'' Duméril & Bibron, 1841 * subfamily Otophryninae Wassersug & Pyburn, 1987 ** genus '' Otophryne'' Boulenger, 1900 ** genus '' Synapturanus'' Carvalho, 1954 * subfamily Phrynomerinae Noble, 1931 ** genus '' Phrynomantis'' Peters, 1867 * subfamily Scaphiophryninae Laurent, 1946 ** genus '' Paradoxophyla'' Blommers-Schlösser & Blanc, 1991 ** genus '' Scaphiophryne'' Boulenger, 1882

Range

Frogs from the Microhylidae occur throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of North America, South America, Africa, eastern India,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and Australia. Although most are found in tropical or subtropical regions, a few species can be found in arid or nontropical areas. They are the majority of frog species in New Guinea and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The ranges of each subfamily are:De Sá, R. O., Streicher, J. W., Sekonyela, R., Forlani, M. C., Loader, S. P., Greenbaum, E., Richards, S., 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. * Hoplophryninae:

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

* Scaphiophryninae:

* Dyscophinae:

* Microhylinae:

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

* Asterophryinae:

* Phrynomerinae:

* Kalophryninae:

* Otophyninae:

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 ...

* Cophylinae:

* Gastrophryninae:

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

* Melanobatrachinae:

* Chaperininae:

* Adelastinae:

References

External links

* {{Authority control Extant Miocene first appearances Taxa named by Albert Günther Amphibian families