The Neobatrachia (

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

''neo-'' ("new") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) are a

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 ...

of the Anura, the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

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 and

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

s. This suborder is the most advanced and

apomorph In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ha ...

ic of the three anuran suborders alive today, hence its name, which literally means "new frogs" (from the hellenic words ''neo'', meaning "new" and ''batrachia'', meaning "frogs"). It is also by far the largest of the three; its more than 5,000 different

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), ...

make up over 96% of all living anurans. The differentiation between Archaeobatrachia,

Mesobatrachia The Mesobatrachia (Ancient Greek ''μέσος'' (mésos, "middle") + ''batrachia'' ("frogs")) is a paraphyletic group of relatively primitive frogs. At the end of 2016, it contained 3 superfamilies (Pelobatoidea, Pelobatoidea#Pelodytoidea, Pelody ...

, and Neobatrachia is based primarily on anatomic differences, especially the

skeletal A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fram ...

structure, as well as several visible characteristics and behaviors.

Systematics

Separating the Anura into the Archaeo-, Meso- and Neobatrachia is somewhat controversial; as more research is done and more knowledge is gained, it is becoming even less clear, because many characteristics used for this differentiation apply to more than one group. Neobatrachia are usually sorted into five superfamilies, but this division is also controversial, as some

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

are placed into different superfamilies by different authors. In addition, several families have been revealed to 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 ...

and consequently divided to make them correspond to

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

s and thus be natural,

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

ary groups. This has approximately doubled the number of presently recognized neobatrachian families.

List of families

The clades and families currently accepted in the Neobatrachia are: * Superfamily

Heleophrynoidea Heleophrynidae is a family (biology), family of frogs, commonly known as ghost frogs. They are thought to be the most Basal (phylogenetics), basal group in the Neobatrachia. The family consists of two Genus, genera, ''Heleophryne'' and ''Natal gh ...

: ** Heleophrynidae – ghost frogs * Clade

Australobatrachia Australobatrachia ("southern frogs") is a clade of Frog, frogs in the suborder Neobatrachia. It comprises three Family (biology), families of frogs with a Gondwana, Gondwanan distribution, being known from Chile, Australia, and New Guinea. Togeth ...

: ** Calyptocephalellidae – Chilean toads ** Superfamily Myobatrachoidea ***

Limnodynastidae Limnodynastidae, commonly known as the Australian ground frogs, is a family (biology), family of frogs found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands. They were formerly considered a subfamily of the Myobatrachidae, the ...

– Australian ground frogs ***

Myobatrachidae Myobatrachidae, commonly known as Australian ground frogs or Australian water frogs, is a family of frogs found in Australia and New Guinea. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than long, to the second-largest frog in ...

– Australian froglets * Superfamily Hyloidea: ** Allophrynidae – Tukeit hill frogs ** Amphignathodontidae – marsupial frogs (sometimes in Hemiphractidae) ** Alsodidae ** Batrachylidae ** Clade

Brachycephaloidea Brachycephaloidea (or Terrarana) is a large Monophyly, monophyletic unranked clade of Direct development, direct-developing frogs including more than 1,100 species, comprising about 15% of named frog species. Brachycephaloids inhabit the New Worl ...

***

Caligophrynidae ''Caligophryne'' is a genus of frog in the superfamily Hyloidea, clade Brachycephaloidea. It contains the single species ''C. doylei'' and is the only member of the family Caligophrynidae. It is endemic to the highest parts of the Cerro de la N ...

Fouquet ''et al.'', 2023 ***

Brachycephalidae The Brachycephalidae () are a family of frogs confined to eastern and southern Brazil and northern Argentina. The family is composed of two externally quite different genera: the tiny, often (but not always) colourful and plump saddleback toads ...

– saddleback toads ***

Ceuthomantidae ''Ceuthomantis'' is a small genus of Craugastoridae, craugastorid frogs, also treated as comprising their own monogeneric family Ceuthomantidae. They are found in the southern and eastern parts of the Guiana Highlands in Venezuela, Guyana, and Bra ...

– emerald-barred frogs ***

Craugastoridae Craugastoridae, commonly known as fleshbelly frogs, is a family of New World direct-developing frogs. As delineated here, following the Amphibian Species of the World, it contains 129 species. They are found from the southern United States south ...

Hedges, Duellmann & Heinicke, 2008 (formerly in Brachycephalidae) *** Eleutherodactylidae Lutz, 1954 (formerly in Brachycephalidae) ***

Neblinaphrynidae ''Neblinaphryne'' is a genus of frog in the clade Brachycephaloidea. It contains two species and is the only member of the family Neblinaphrynidae. It is endemic to the highest parts of the Cerro de la Neblina tepui on the border of Brazil and ...

Fouquet ''et al.'', 2023 ***

Strabomantidae The Strabomantidae, sometimes called cloud forest landfrogs, are a family of frogs native to South America. These frogs lack a free-living larval stage and hatch directly into miniature "froglets". This family includes '' Pristimantis'', the mo ...

Hedges, Duellmann & Heinicke, 2008 (some formerly in Brachycephalidae) **

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

– true toads ** Centrolenidae – glass frogs ** Ceratophryidae – horned toads **

Cycloramphidae The Cycloramphidae are a Family (taxonomy), family of frogs endemic to southeastern Brazil. This family has seen large changes in its composition. Genera that have at some point been included in the Cycloramphidae are at present placed in the Als ...

** Clade Dendrobatoidea *** Aromobatidae – skunk frog (sometimes in Dendrobatidae) ***

Dendrobatidae Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the Family (biology), family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central America, Central an ...

– poison dart frogs ** Hemiphractidae – marsupial frogs **

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 ...

– true

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

s and relatives ** Hylodidae – giant Neotropical torrent frogs ** Leiuperidae (sometimes in Leptodactylidae) **

Leptodactylidae The southern frogs form the Leptodactylidae, a name that comes from Greek meaning a bird or other animal having slender toes. They are a diverse family of frogs that most likely diverged from other hyloids during the Cretaceous. The family has u ...

– southern frogs, tropical frogs **

Odontophrynidae The Odontophrynidae are a family of frogs from southern and eastern South America. This family was first established in 1969 as the tribe Odontophrynini within the (then) very large family Leptodactylidae. Molecular phylogenetics analyses prompte ...

** Rhinodermatidae – Darwin's frogs ** Telmatobiidae – water frogs *Superfamily Sooglossoidea: ** Nasikabatrachidae – purple frogs ** Sooglossidae – Seychelles frogs *Superfamily Ranoidea: **

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

– narrow-mouthed frogs **Clade Afrobatrachia: *** Arthroleptidae – squeakers ***

Brevicipitidae Brevicipitidae or rain frogs is a small Family (biology), family of frogs found in eastern and southern Africa. As of 2025 contains 38 species in 5 genera. eb application 2013. Berkeley, CaliforniaBrevicipitidae AmphibiaWeb, available at http ...

– rain frogs *** Hemisotidae – shovelnose frogs *** Hyperoliidae – sedge frogs, " bush frogs" **Clade Natatanura: *** Ceratobatrachidae *** Conrauidae *** Dicroglossidae – fork-tongued frogs *** Micrixalidae – dancing frogs ***

Mantellidae The Mantellidae are an amphibian family (biology), family of the order (biology), order Frog, Anura (frogs and toads), and are Endemism, endemic to the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar and Mayotte. At first glance, the diminutive, brightly-col ...

– Malagasy frogs *** Nyctibatrachidae – night frogs *** Odontobatrachidae *** Petropedetidae – torrent frogs *** Phrynobatrachidae – puddle frogs ***

Ptychadenidae Ptychadenidae is a family of frogs commonly known as the grassland frogs. These frogs occur in Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central A ...

– grassland frogs *** Pyxicephalidae *** Ranidae – true frogs *** Ranixalidae – Indian frogs *** Rhacophoridae – shrub frogs, " bush frogs", " moss frogs"

Systematics

List of families

References

Further reading