''Platyplectrum'' is a genus of ground-dwelling frog in the family

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

. Species in this genus are found in Australia,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

, and on the

Aru Islands The Aru Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It also forms a regency of Maluku Province, with a land area of . At the 2011 Census the Regency had a p ...

. They are medium-sized frogs and the dorsal skin has a sandpaper-like texture. Although this genus was described in 1863 for the species ''

Platyplectrum ornatum The ornate burrowing frog (''Platyplectrum ornatum'') is a species of ground frog native to Australia. It was moved to the genus ''Opisthodon'' in 2006, following a major revision of amphibians, and is now classified in the genus ''Platyplectrum' ...

'', in 2009 it was synonymized with the genus '' Opisthodon.'' This classification was found to be paraphyletic with respect to the former genus ''Lechriodus''. For this reason, ''Platyplectrum'' was revived in 2021 for the members of ''Opisthodon'' and ''Lechriodus''. They inhabit a range of environments from arid areas to rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests, and are active after heavy rains in summer and rarely seen during drier conditions. Breeding takes place in temporary pools and small streams and the tadpoles as well as the frogs are noted for their cannibalistic behaviour, due to which some members are commonly known as cannibal frogs. They are terrestrial and burrowing, spend much time under ground, particularly during drier periods. Breeding occurs after rain, and males call from temporary or permanent water. The species in this genus are quite similar physically to many frogs in ''Limnodynastes'', they also share many of the same habits of that genus including: burrowing, a "tok" like call and foamy egg nest (which in ''Platyplectrum'' breaks down after a few hours).

Species

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q2335553 Platyplectrum Amphibian genera Taxa named by Albert Günther Amphibians of Australia Amphibians of New Guinea Amphibians described in 1863